Golden Sun: The Lunar Calamity
by Krosshair
Summary: Faced with the Mourning Moon's re-rising, the Warriors of the Eclipse must group together once more to bring down the Tuaparang after a shocking discovery. (being put on hiatus for now because of Tales of the Nintendoverse starting and because I'm not sure on whether to integrate this into that series or not)
1. Return to Konpa Ruins

**_Golden Sun 4_... yeah, about that...**

**All jokes aside, this is my own continuation of what happened after _Dark Dawn_. Enjoy!**

* * *

"What _is _that?"

Karis, with a hint of uneasiness in her voice, replied, "That's the Mourning Moon! Remember? It comes out every ten years!"

The humongous Psynergy Vortex ominously loomed above them, and much to the trio's concern, their parents were nowhere to be found. Matthew ran towards the Lookout Cabin, where he found a note on the door, which read: _"Went out to shop for food in Carver's Camp. Will be back soon. - Isaac and Garet"_

Breathing a sigh of relief, Matthew went back to Tyrell and Karis before saying, "They're fine!"

Karis wiped her forehead in relief, while Tyrell, who hadn't moved since they had first come across the Mourning Moon, exhaled before saying, "Well, where are they? And can we _please _get a move on?"

"Carver's Camp."

"Great! Then that's where we're going!"

Taking off in a run, Tyrell quickly made his way down the Goma Plateau, with Matthew and Karis on his heels. For the Mars Adept, the appearance of that Psynergy Vortex in particular was especially personal.

* * *

Isaac cracked open a bottle of Proxian beer and handed the drink to Garet, who was trying to numb his mind from the fact that his son probably wouldn't be home for quite awhile, while the Venus Adept asked Carver for one of his own, and he slid twenty gold coins across the table. Deciding to make the most out of the fact that he and Garet were effectively stuck in the main building, as Carver had prohibited anyone from leaving once word had spread that the Mourning Moon had risen once more, he was about to take a hearty swill before he heard a loud knock. Walking to the door, he looked through the window and saw the kids with looks of worry on their faces.

Isaac yelled to the back, "Carver, it's the kids! Should I let them in?"

Carver's gruff voice came out from the back with a nonchalant, "Sure." But his voice quickly changed to a more concerned tone as he said, "Make sure they're alright, okay?" Isaac flashed a thumbs up, and opened the door. Matthew, Tyrell, and Karis walked in, with Matthew pausing to hug his father before joining the others. Isaac walked back to the table where Garet was sitting at, where he saw his best friend pulling Tyrell into a bearhug.

Once Garet had let go, he asked his son, "Did you get the feather?"

Tyrell, now rummaging through his pack, grunted out, "As a matter of fact..." Pulling out the Roc Feather, he triumphantly exclaimed, "We did!"

Karis nodded, proudly adding, "Tyrell was the one who beat the Roc as well, he took it out with Eruption!"

Flushing with pride, the younger Mars Adept said, "Aw, c'mon, Karis, it's not _that _impressive, considering everything else after that..."

The two older Adepts repeated, "Everything else?"

Matthew, who had been silent since entering the building, quietly said, "The Grave Eclipse. Did you see a dark fog at any point?"

Isaac nodded, before asking his son, "How did it end?"

"The former king of Belinsk gave his life to fire the Apollo Lens."

"Volechek... shame, I liked him." Something clicked in Isaac's head and he asked, "Weren't you traveling with the current queen?" Matthew nodded, and Isaac continued, "What was she like?"

Matthew simply replied, "She was polite. Quiet and shy as well."

As Isaac continued asking Matthew about his journey, Karis, meanwhile, had dumped all of Kraden's notes on Psynergy Vortexes onto the table that Garet was sitting at, and she said, "Maybe these'll be of some help!"

Tyrell looked through the notes, and after a bit of thinking, asked Karis, "Wait... wasn't there that weird machine in the Konpa Ruins?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Doesn't that mean that the Vortexes can be artificially made as well?"

Karis, in realization, exclaimed, "Jenei above, Tyrell, you're right!" Running over to Isaac, she exclaimed, "We _need _to go to the Konpa Ruins! Tyrell just said something smart!"

Ignoring Tyrell's indignant shout, Isaac said, "I'll ask Carver if you can leave tomorrow morning. And also, why?" Karis told Isaac what Tyrell had just said, and the Venus Adept's face hardened, saying, "Change of plans. If that's really true, then I think you should go there as soon as you're ready to go-"

Matthew, having finished polishing the Sol Blade, grunted, "We're ready to go." Resheathing the longsword, he stepped towards the door, motioning for Tyrell and Karis to step through once he had opened it. Once Karis had left along with Tyrell, he ran back, gave his dad one more hug, and said, "Guess you ended up seeing me off regardless, huh?" With a sad laugh, Matthew stepped through the door and joined Karis and Tyrell, leaving Isaac alone with Garet. Standing up, Isaac took a huge gulp of the alcohol he had purchased before going to one of the rooms upstairs to write a letter to Jenna.

* * *

The walk to the Konpa Ruins Gate was surprisingly easy, with very few monsters. As Karis rang the bell to request entry into the ruins, Tyrell looked to his best friend, and asked, "Hey Matt, are you sure that you're not hung up on Sveta?" Matthew's cheeks flushed, and he denied it with a quick shake of his head, which Tyrell didn't buy. Laughing in triumph, Tyrell exclaimed, "I _knew _it!"

The gate opened, and Tyrell, along with a very embarrassed Matthew, followed Karis on the path to the ruins. Looking back, she saw that Matthew's face was a bright shade of red. Turning around, she teasingly asked Matthew, "Are you thinking about Sveta again?"

Matthew, in a tone of voice that convinced absolutely no one, answered, "Nope!"

Giving him a light slap on the back, Tyrell said, "Aw, come on, Matt, _everyone _knew that you liked her from the moment the two of you danced at her coronation."

Karis laughed, but also turned slightly pink as she had danced with Tyrell at said ceremony... and he turned out to be a pretty good dancer, despite his clumsiness with everything else.

Just as she set foot on the stairs that led to the ruins, however, a crossbow bolt flew right in front of her, missing her face by a few centimeters. Matthew and Tyrell ran towards Karis, and looked up to see a squad of Tuaparang elite soldiers, all of them equipped with at least a dozen Psy Grenades on their belts. One of the soldiers pulled out a walkie-talkie, and said, "Commander Pentis, we've found the Adepts that killed the Chaos Beast."

A feminine voice came through the walkie-talkie, and said, "Oh, wonderful! Commander Stavos will be on his way shortly."

The Tua soldiers unclipped one grenade from their belts and threw it at the party, but Matthew used Chasm, and the Venus Djinn absorbed the waves of anti-Psynergy that were released from the grenades' explosions.

Once Chasm had done its job, Tyrell pulled out his Herculean Axe, Karis pulled out her Sagittarius Bow, and Matthew unsheathed the Sol Blade. With a wave of his hand, Matthew used Stone Spire, causing an avalanche of rocks to fall on top of three of the Tuaparang soldiers. One of the soldiers fired a crossbow bolt, but Karis used Whirlwind to redirect the arrow back at the soldier, and the arrow embedded itself right in his head.

Tyrell, with a battle cry, used Arid Scorch, the resulting blast of hot air knocking away a couple of soldiers, before turning his axe onto the soldier that had almost killed Karis. With a glint in his eye, Tyrell unleashed Olympus Rage, the resulting explosion sending the Tua elite flying into a rock face. Turning towards the five or so Tua soldiers that remained, the Mars Adept roared, "WHO WANTS SOME MORE?!"

The soldiers retreated, using their grappling hooks to scale the mountain, and Tyrell walked into the ruins, Matthew and Karis following close behind.

* * *

"...and that's what happened, sir."

Stavos, leaning on his Excalibur, asked, "You said their names were Matthew, Tyrell, and Karis?"

"That is correct, Commander Stavos."

"And that they were heading to the Konpa Ruins?"

"Yes, sir."

A split-second of shock was apparent in the Tua commander's eyes, before he said, "Very well. Your squad... or what remains of it, is dismissed."

Going back to his quarters, Stavos took off his hood and removed his half-mask.

Felix, now on his bed, was thinking long and hard about the names of the three Adepts. It had been fifteen years since he had last seen any of the three, as well as Isaac, Garet, Mia, Ivan, Piers, and his sister. Once he had put his mask back on and pulled up his hood, Felix used Teleport, and he vanished in a swirl of Psynergetic particles.

* * *

Matthew had just lopped the head off a Umbra-imbued Bone Soldier, and he watched as the blade that the skeleton was holding embedded itself right in its head. Walking into the room where the machine was the first time they visited the ruins, he saw that it was still there, fully intact. Looking at Tyrell, he asked, "What did you say about these machines?"

Tyrell, standing on the other side, replied, "I think it can create a Psynergy Vortex!"

Matthew looked back at the device, and saw a gold and a purple button. Out of curiosity, he tapped the purple one, and sure enough, an average-sized Psynergy Vortex appeared above Matthew, who immediately felt his strength draining. Quickly, he hammered the golden button, and the vortex disappeared, almost like it had never been there. Hopping back over to Karis and Tyrell, Matthew asked, "Okay, now that we know that the Tuaparang have been making the Psynergy Vortexes, what do we do now?"

Tyrell, his face stone-cold, said, "I say we take 'em down."

This had unnerved both Matthew and Karis, because Tyrell had just spoken in a calm tone that he otherwise never used.

Before the three of them could say anything, a voice behind them said, "I'm afraid you'll find that to be quite impossible."

Turning around, Matthew, Tyrell, and Karis found themselves staring at a man with a purple hood and cape, whose face was obscured by a mask. Commander Stavos, in his cold, even voice, said, "The Tuaparang are already moving as I speak. They look to place machines like these at Ayuthay, Belinsk, Champa, Bilibin, Kalay, and Yamata. Soon, all the Alchemical power from the Golden Sun will be drained from this doomed world, and we, the Tuaparang, will be the masters of all Psynergy. Why else do you think that the Mourning Moon reoccurs every ten years?"

Tyrell's eyes had narrowed with each word the Tuaparang commander had uttered, and once Stavos had finished his explanation, he said, "So you're the reason my mom's gone, then..."

Matthew, in a voice of concern, said, "Tyrell..." Karis also said the same thing, but now, Tyrell was too far gone.

Even the commander looked taken aback for a second, as he echoed, "Your mother...?"

The nagging voice in the back of Tyrell's head told him, _"You have the chance to avenge your mother, act on it right now, consequences be damned!"_

Regaining his composure, Stavos continued, "Sure, the Warriors of Vale _might _be able to stop us, but-"

He didn't finish that sentence, as Tyrell leaped right at Stavos, bringing down the Herculean Axe, dead set on bringing the Tuaparang to justice. Stavos dodged, and attempted to shackle Tyrell's legs with Growth. However, Tyrell's rage had fueled his Psynergy to new heights, and he began burning the vines as soon as they coiled around his ankles. Tyrell then used Crush, resulting in a Psynergetic hand slamming into the wall, causing a small avalanche of rocks to fall down on top of the Tua commander. After a moment of silence, the pile of rocks burst apart, and Stavos, with a lazy flick of his hand, sent the rocks at Tyrell. The Mars Adept jammed his axe into the ground and used Pyroclasm to melt the rocks, sending hot lava everywhere.

Hefting his axe out of the ground, Tyrell unleashed Olympus Rage, but Stavos dodged the explosion and instead shackled Tyrell's arms and legs in a Stone Spire. Again, Tyrell melted the rocks, and, ignoring the fact that his axe was embedded in the ground, lunged in to punch the commander. Stavos sidestepped before using Sleep, and the Mars Adept collapsed to the floor.

Matthew and Karis looked around at the carnage Tyrell had left in his short fight with the Tua commander. There was cooling magma all over the cave, a portion of the wall had been caved in, and there were numerous gashes where Tyrell had struck with his axe. Stavos' voice interrupted them, saying, "I'd recommend taking your friend and his weapon with you, and I don't want any citizens to get hurt, so I suggest that you begin warning the towns."

Stavos walked towards the northern exit, and Matthew yelled, "Wait! Who are you?!"

"You should know by now... Matthew."

With a swish of his cape, Stavos was gone. Matthew and Karis looked at each other, and Karis mouthed, _"How does he know your name?"_

Matthew shrugged helplessly, and went to retrieve Tyrell and his axe.

* * *

Once Felix stepped through the northern exit, he removed the mask and wiped his brow in exhaustion. He hated to admit it, but Garet, the buffoon of his and Isaac's journey thirty years ago, had raised a damn good son and an even more impressive fighter. The walkie-talkie on his belt went off, and he picked it up, asking, "Hello?"

Pentis' voice came through, asking, "What happened, Stavos?"

"You can drop the act, Sheba."

Sheba let out an annoyed "Hmph!" before asking, "What happened, Felix?"

"I ran into Isaac, Garet, and Ivan's kids."

Sheba gasped in excitement, but Felix said, "Don't get too excited, Sheba... we don't even remember where Gail is, right?"

Sheba's voice was a little more annoyed as she replied, "I don't understand why you left our daughter in Kalay-"

"My sister's there."

"Oh. She'll be fine, then! Anyways, what were you saying about the kids?"

With a thin smile, Felix said, "I think they just might be the ticket to destroying the Tuaparang..."

* * *

**You know, I feel like Tyrell gets mocked a little too much when it comes to _Dark Dawn_-related fanfics.**

**Anyways, how'd you like this? Leave a review if you can, as feedback always helps!**


	2. Twists and Revelations

**I say this to all Golden Sun fans: Have faith, for the Golden Sun shall rise over us once more. Also...**

**Matthew: The _Golden Sun _trilogy is owned by Nintendo and Camelot, this is merely a fanmade continuation.**

* * *

Matthew stepped through the exit of the Konpa Ruins, which he had cleared out when he, Karis, and Tyrell had made their way back to Goma Plateau after their three month journey to stop the Grave Eclipse. With a grunt, he gently set Tyrell next to a tree, and the Mars Adept snored away. Looking at Tyrell with concern, Karis asked, "Will he be okay, Matthew?"

"It's Tyrell, we've all been through some tough stuff. Remember _that_ moment on the ship?"

Karis flushed, mumbling, "Don't remind me..." Looking back at Tyrell, her voice became soft once more, and she continued, "Matthew, I'm worried for him. He only just found out that the Mourning Moon that killed his mother was not an accident... and you know how Tyrell is like whenever someone wrongs him."

"Yeah, you're right... wait." Matthew, though he did find Karis' concern for Tyrell rather sweet, mischievously smiled at Karis and asked, "You like him, don't you?"

Karis' face flushed in a shade of red that was brighter than even Tyrell's hair, and she spluttered, "Wha- no! I don't like him in _that _way, Matthew!"

As Matthew laughed, neither of them noticed Tyrell shifting in his sleep, mumbling, "Mom... where are you?"

* * *

_Tyrell ran through the paths in Vault, yelling, "Mama? Mama, where are you?" in an increasingly concerned voice. Coming across a soldier who was digging a trench, he asked, "Mister, have you seen my mama?"_

_The soldier, though he was exhausted from digging the mass grave for those that the Mourning Moon had killed, turned around to face Tyrell, and in a gentle tone, he said, "Kid... your name's Tyrell, is it not?" __Tyrell nodded, and the soldier continued, "I haven't seen her in a while. Maybe you should ask the other soldiers up there." _

_Tyrell looked to where the soldier was pointing, and he sped off, yelling back, "Thanks, mister!"_

_The soldier looked at Tyrell run with an expression of pity in his eyes, as if his hunch was correct, that kid would be hit with a nasty dose of reality sooner rather than later._

_Tyrell had run up to the soldiers who were standing around with shovels in their hands, and he asked, "Excuse me, have you seen my mama?"_

_One soldier tiredly pointed to the trench they had dug, and Tyrell looked in._

_His mother, though she appeared to be sleeping peacefully, looked gaunt and pale, her skin almost pure white, and she was thinner than she had been while she was alive. Jumping into the grave, Tyrell shook his mother's body, saying, "Mama... please wake up!" When she didn't respond, he tried again, asking, "Mama?" _

_No response._

_Garet, meanwhile, had finally caught up with his son, having followed the directions of a soldier who was currently digging a mass grave. Running over to a trio of soldiers, he looked into the trench, where he saw Tyrell shaking a corpse. Scooping him out, he sternly chided, "Tyrell! What did I say about..." His voice trailing off as he looked to where his crying son was pointing, he continued, "Running off..."_

_Gently setting his son on the ground, Garet ran into the mass grave, and when he saw Alina's body, he began repeating to himself, "No... no, no, no... this can't be..." After checking his wife for a pulse and receiving nothing, tears began to fall from Garet's eyes, and his broad shoulders racked with sobs as he gingerly scooped up his wife's body and walked out of the grave._

_Later, once Garet had given Alina a proper burial, he walked away to grieve, but Tyrell stayed behind to put some roses on his mother's grave. Before he could walk away, however, he heard a voice that sounded an awful lot like his mother's call out, "Tyrell..." Running into the forest, Tyrell began looking for the source of the voice, only to meet an angry Dire Wolf, who snarled and leapt right at Tyrell..._

* * *

Tyrell woke up with a jolt at the sound of something scraping, but when he looked around, he saw that it was just Matthew making breakfast. Looking to his right, he saw Karis right next to him, and he jumped up in surprise as she said, "Morning, sleepyhead."

Looking at Karis, Tyrell asked, "How long was I asleep?"

Matthew had just finished cooking some rice, and he answered, "Ten hours, give or take."

Letting out a low whistle, Tyrell remarked, "Damn, that long? That Tuaparang guy really did a number on me, didn't he?"

Matthew passed out bowls to Karis and Tyrell, and while they were eating their food, Matthew told Tyrell, "That guy... we never saw him on our quest, but he somehow knew my name."

Karis said, "Maybe Blados and Chalis told him about us..."

Matthew finished his meal, and stood up, saying, "Well, whatever it is, if what that Stavos guy said is true, we should start by going to Ayuthay to warn Amiti."

Karis and Tyrell both nodded, and once they had finished their food and packed supplies, the three of them set off for Ayuthay. Unknown to the trio, however, a raven flew overhead and was transmitting video and audio to Stavos and Pentis, who were hiding behind the statue of the Wise One. Sheba said, "I still don't understand why we have to _wait _to reveal to them that we're really one-fourth of the Warriors of Vale, Felix. And besides, if you had that security bird all this time, then why in the name of the Jenei did you not use it to find Gail and send her a message?!"

"I told you, Sheba, it's all part of the plan. We send Tua soldiers to ambush them frequently over the course of this journey, and once Blados and Chalis are fully recovered and try to take their revenge, we help the kids. _Then _we explain to them what we're doing. As for Gail, the less attention we give to her, the safer she'll be from any threats."

Sheba, with a deadpan expression, snarked, "Right. Like that plan didn't backfire in Contigo thirty years ago."

"This time'll be different, okay? I'm fairly sure that the kids are more understanding, considering that Isaac and Ivan raised them."

"You only saw them when they were two. Fifteen years changes a lot of people, Felix. And what do we know about their allies?"

"According to Blados, one of them is the prince of Ayuthay, one is the leader of the Champan pirates, one is the princess of Yamata, one is the queen of goddamn _Belinsk_, and one of them travels with Kraden."

An idea clicked in Sheba's head, and she said, "Maybe you should send him a letter, you know how quickly he can travel once he sets his mind to it."

"I'll send the letter, but we're still waiting 'till Belinsk."

Sheba sighed in exasperation as Felix continued to watch the video feed that the bird was transmitting, before using his walkie-talkie to command a Tua battalion to attack the Adepts en route to Ayuthay.

* * *

"...I will be coming to Kalay very soon, and I have also sent a messenger bird to that is en route to Matthew to tell him to meet us in Kalay once he has gotten his group together once more. And please say hi to Gail for me. Can't wait to see you again. Love always, Isaac."

Jenna had finished reading the contents of Isaac's letter, and she called for Gail to come downstairs. Gail had her father's looks as well as her mother's stormy gray eyes and Jupiter abilities. Undoing her braid, Gail asked, "Yes, Auntie Jenna?"

"Your uncle will be coming over."

"Uncle Isaac will be here?"

Jenna nodded, and Gail went outside to practice her Psynergy on the training dummy Jenna had left in the yard. Looking at the Cleric's Ring on her finger, she hefted up the Darksword that her father had used all those years ago, and despite the ominous moaning that came from the sword, she suffered no side effects from her use of it. Setting Wheeze, Blitz (those two being a gift from her mother), Flash, Shine, Cannon, Scorch, Core, Spark, and Torch (these seven Djinn being a gift from Jenna) to her person, she concentrated before yelling, "Shine Plasma!"

The bolts of electricity homed in on the dummy before striking it, and the smell of burnt grass and ozone filled the air. Gail admired her handiwork for a second before moving in to slash at the dummy, and despite managing to withstand direct hits from the plasma bolts, the dummy fell apart like her aunt's attempts at baking bread.

* * *

Tyrell grunted, "Sheesh, how are these guys able to find us all the time?!"

Matthew, not having an answer, unleashed Megiddo, and the massive fireball wiped out three basic Tua soldiers. Karis had taken cover behind a tree, and was trying to take out the soldiers stealthily from a distance. As for Tyrell, he had sown discord all over the battlefield by casting Pyroclasm right off the bat, and, forgoing any semblance of strategy, he began using his Djinn to take out the Tuaparang soldiers. One soldier, overwhelmed by Fury's wrath, died of a heart attack. Another was severely burned by Chili, and a third one retreated after being blinded by Glare.

Karis saw Tyrell using his Djinn and formulated a plan to wipe out the seemingly never-ending horde of soldiers: Catastrophe. Using Doldrum, she froze a soldier in still air, which allowed Matthew to shackle him with Growth. Taking aim, she fired an arrow that was imbibed with Simoom's power at another soldier's chest, and once the arrow hit its mark, in addition to poisoning the soldier, a toxic haze spread across the battlefield. Finally, she used Kite, Bolt, and Haze in rapid succession, before yelling to the heavens, _"Catastrophe!"_

The sky blackened, as the fallen knight rose from the depths of hell, and Matthew, upon seeing Catastrophe rise to the heavens, breathed, "Oh, _shit_," and he quickly used Chasm to shield himself, Tyrell, and Karis from any damage. Catastrophe, a representation of the dark side of Judgement, loomed with a sinister air before driving its massive longsword into the ground. From the blade, a pulse of black lightning and dark energy erupted in all directions, and the Tua soldiers who _hadn't _died from Simoom's toxic cloud were either electrocuted to death, or they had simply succumbed to the dark power that Catastrophe radiated.

Once Catastrophe's attack had ceased, along with Chasm's shielding power, the summon retreated back to the depths via a black vortex, and Matthew re-set Chasm to himself, before navigating the large pile of Tua corpses, finding out that Tyrell had just barely managed to claw his way out of a mountain of bodies. Haze's cloaking effect had just worn off on Karis, and she ran over to Tyrell and gave him a hug, exclaiming, "I'm so glad you're okay!"

Once the sudden emotional rush had worn off, Karis realized what she was doing, and immediately let go of him, her face a fiery red, while behind her, Matthew snickered at the sight. Tyrell, after catching his breath, panted out, "Why... hah... don't we... just go to Ayuthay? Surely the Tuaparang can't just keep throwing soldiers at us forever."

Matthew and Karis both nodded, and after stopping in Harapa for lunch at a recently opened restaurant, the three of them continued to Ayuthay.

* * *

Pentis looked at the soldier's badly scorched armor and asked, "You said it was the Adepts who did this to you?"

"Yep- _ouuuuchhh..._"

Stavos looked at the Tua soldier and said, "You should go and rest if you want to be in any sort of condition for combat. Dismissed."

Once the soldier was out of sight, Felix, still looking at the video feed his robotic raven had transmitted, said, "We need to confront them at Ayuthay if that's what they're capable of."

Sheba looked at Felix with a very unimpressed look and said, "That's what I said thirty minutes ago, you doofus!" Her voice softening, she then asked, "Are you sure you want to do this, Felix? I don't want your nephew to resent you for basically being absent for fifteen years..."

Felix, after a moment of thought, put the video screen in back in his cloak, and said to Sheba, "We're going to Ayuthay. That and Belinsk are our two stops, because the High Empyror said that Blados and Chalis would go to the other locations once we've done our part."

"So what do we do if we run into them in Ayuthay, since we're only going to reveal ourselves to them at Belinsk?"

Sighing, Felix said, "You're not going to like this, but..."

* * *

Jenna had just finished cooking dinner, which included her baking a loaf of bread. Just as she had decided to let it cool in the hopes that it _wouldn't _fall apart this time, a knock on her door caused her to abandon the food in the hopes that the person at the door would be Isaac. Opening the door, her hopes were indeed correct, as her husband stood right in front of her, his beard still as scruffy as ever. With a small chuckle, Isaac asked, "Missed me?"

Jenna threw her arms around him, replying, "Of course I did!" Now on her tiptoes, she gave him a kiss that lasted for about five minutes, the two of them getting a good feel for one another for the first time in about half a year. When they finally broke apart for air, she giggled, "Your beard still tickles."

Isaac defensively stroked his beard, insisting, "I think I look nice with it."

"I think you look rugged." Changing the subject, she asked, "Would you like to see Gail? She just turned eighteen last week!"

Isaac nodded, and Jenna yelled, "Gail! Your uncle's here!"

Gail walked inside, her hair containing bits of cotton from the destroyed training dummy, and she said, "Hey, Uncle Isaac."

Isaac gave her a hug, saying, "Gail! It's good to see you again!"

Later, at dinner, Isaac told Jenna and Gail about how Matthew and his friends made a big discovery about Psynergy Vortexes, and that they had gone to stop the Tuaparang by themselves. Gasping in shock, Jenna said, "But they'll need all sorts of help if they plan on doing that!"

"I know. That's why I was planning on bringing in Ivan, Piers, Garet, and Mia as well. The fifteen of us will go and stop the Tuaparang from unleashing any more of their wrath on the world."

"But what about Felix and She- wait, fifteen?"

Looking at Jenna, Isaac used his eyes to gesture towards Gail, and his wife said, "No. We are not taking Gail up to the city of the Tuaparang! That is final."

With a defeated glance, Isaac went to cut himself a slice of bread, but upon doing so, the entire loaf disintegrated into a pile of crumbs. Behind him, Jenna nervously laughed, and with a sigh, Isaac decided to make a loaf of bread from scratch.

* * *

Just as Matthew set foot in Ayuthay, with Karis and Tyrell behind him arguing over whether they should've bought some Khiren water for their travels, a bird dropped a rolled up sheet of parchment in his hands and flew off. Unfurling the parchment, Matthew looked at the letter, which read:

_Matthew,_

_By the time you are reading this letter, I am already staying with your mother and cousin in Kalay. Now that your mother knows that you, Karis, and Tyrell plan to stop the Tuaparang with your friends, we have begun planning a way to help you and your companions breach the city and stop their machinations. Matthew, I beg of you, if you somehow manage to find Felix and/or Sheba, write to either me or your mother ASAP. I'm sure Gail would love to see her parents again._

_And one more thing: when you have completely assembled your group of companions (the Warriors of the Eclipse, so I've been told), please come and meet us in Kalay. Good luck, son._

_Much love and safe travels,_

_Isaac_

_P.S.: If you and the queen of Morgal do end up dating, you can always come to your mother and I for dating advice, okay? We have plenty of tips for you when it comes to that point of your life._

Matthew quickly folded up the letter and stuffed it into his knapsack, his face as red as a Mars Djinn, as he, Karis, and Tyrell walked into the main palace of Ayuthay to request entry into the lower city to talk with Amiti.

* * *

**I'm admittedly not great at writing romance. ****And yeah, Gail is an OC. Her Djinn setup puts her in the Guru class, and she uses her father's Darksword as her primary weapon.**

**Yes, I'm aware that Garet had Flash in _Dark Dawn_'s prologue, for continuity's sake, he traded it to Jenna for Coal.**

**Tyrell's got beef with the Tuaparang due to the second Mourning Moon ten years prior, Matthew has his own issues (a swear jar could help), and Karis has… boy troubles, putting it lightly.**

**Might as well cut to the chase and reveal what Felix and Sheba have been doing, right?**

**Did you enjoy Chapter 2? Leave a review if you wish, as feedback is always appreciated!**


	3. Ayuthian Assault

**Felix... has complexity addiction, putting it mildly.**

**Sorry about the deletion, I just needed to change some stuff.**

**Enjoy Chapter 3! (for real this time)**

* * *

Matthew, having requested an audience with Prince Amiti, patiently waited for the soldiers to open the door. The door slid open after a small wait, and a soldier stepped aside to let Matthew and company walk inside.

Upon taking the vine down, the trio of Adepts walked to the throne room, where Amiti, back in his traditional Ayuthian garb, greeted them with a bow before saying, "Welcome. What brings the three of you to Ayuthay today?"

Matthew nervously rubbed the back of his head before saying, "Well... there's something we need to talk with you about regarding Psynergy Vortexes."

"Oh, the Mourning Moon? I am aware that it has risen once more. The citizens of Ayuthay will be safe underground, far away from the vortex."

Tyrell stepped to the front and said, "Those Tua bastards are the ones causing the Vortexes to appear."

Karis, though she was surprised at Tyrell's sudden outburst, said, "The Tuaparang have machines that can summon Vortexes, and judging by how the Mourning Moon appears every ten years, we think that they can operate them from a distance. We wanted to come see King Paithos so that we could ask him if you could join us once more."

Amiti's gaze hardened, and he said, "Very well. Unfortunately, King Paithos... passed away shortly after the Grave Eclipse had ended, so, as the new king of Ayuthay, I accept your offer." The trio offered Amiti their condolences, and he instructed them to wait outside his quarters while he changed into his traveling garb. While they were waiting, Matthew said, "Guys... can I tell you something?" Karis and Tyrell both nodded, and Matthew continued, "It's just... I'm kind of worried about what's to come if the Grave Eclipse was just the beginning."

Karis gave her friend a reassuring pat on the shoulder, and said, "Matthew, I understand why you're thinking that way, but remember; have faith that it'll all be resolved and that we can go back to having relatively normal lives after this. We can't stop until we eliminate the source of the Psynergy Vortexes!"

Tyrell hefted his axe onto his shoulders and said, "We're with you 'till the very end, captain." Giving his best friend a light punch on the shoulder, he then yelled, "Amiti! Could you speed up, please?"

Amiti then walked out of the door, back in his traveling outfit, the Masamune clipped onto his belt, and he said, "Very well. Shall we be going now?"

Matthew nodded, but just as they were about to leave, the man who ran the weapon shop ran up to the four of them, and huffed out, "King Amiti! Hoo... hah... it's terrible... Psynergy Vortex in the middle of the square... Tua soldiers have breached the city!"

That had put all four of them on alert, Amiti and Tyrell especially, and the Mercury Adept said, "Very well. Go to one of the safe rooms on this floor. We'll take care of the Tuaparang."

The weapon vendor did as he was told, and Matthew, Tyrell, Karis, and Amiti ran down to the main plaza of Ayuthay. When they did reach the plaza, Amiti saw that the weapons dealer had indeed been correct: A Psynergy Vortex floated high above the fountain in the center, and around the plaza, Tua soldiers were either blocking off exits or following two figures dressed in purple and green. Tyrell's face contorted in fury, and he threw his axe at a soldier. The soldier barely dodged the Herculean Axe as it embedded itself in the wall, and looking behind him, he yelled, "Karis, a little help, please!" Karis obliged, shooting the soldier right in the chest as Tyrell pried his axe out of the wall. Matthew and Amiti shared a glance before nodding, and Amiti used Supercool on Matthew's Clay Spire, turning the stalactites into sharp icicles, which crashed down all around the Tua soldiers. Turning to Amiti once more, Matthew asked, "Hey, what happened to the other people down here?"

Amiti curtly replied with, "Safe rooms," before unleashing a Combat Dance on an unsuspecting Tua elite. To their left, Karis wiped out a formation of Tua snipers with a well-placed Shine Plasma, and Tyrell ran into the room where he had last seen the two Tua commanders walk into.

Stavos and Pentis were looking around the inside of the Alchemy Well, and Stavos let out a low whistle before asking Pentis, "Say, how valuable d'you think that Luna Mask would be for the High Empyror?"

Before Pentis could answer, an explosion from behind them made them whirl around, and they saw Tyrell, standing in the middle of the corpses of a Tuaparang squad with the vengeful hate that embodied Fury present in his eyes. Sheba whispered, "That's Garet's kid?" which Felix responded to with a curt nod before putting the facade back up.

"Hmph... what are _you _doing here? Didn't I tell you to stay out of our way?"

Tyrell shook his head and gnashed his teeth together, his grip on the Herculean Axe tightening. Before he could unleash an attack, however, Pentis, with a mischievous tone in her voice, said, "Oh, I don't know, Stavos... this room looks awfully small... and there are two of us. Why don't we give him a fair fight?" Before either Tyrell or Stavos could object, Pentis used Burst, and the wall behind Tyrell exploded, creating a gaping hole which showed the plaza of Ayuthay in its entirety.

Matthew and Amiti had just managed to catch their breath after taking down a juggernaut of a soldier, and Karis, out of the corner of her eye, saw Tyrell facing down two Tua commanders. Turning her Sagittarius Bow onto the two, she cautiously waited for either one of them to make a move.

Tyrell, meanwhile, ground his teeth in anger, and snarled, "What the hell do you Tua bastards have to gain from doing this for _thirty years_?!"

Stavos calmly replied, "I told you the answer at Konpa Ruins, kid. We drain the Alchemy from Weyard to become the dominant force in the world, the only users of Psynergy."

Pentis chimed in with, "And once we do, then even the Warriors of Vale will be powerless against us!"

Stavos, holding the Excalibur in his hand, gestured in challenge. Before any of the combatants could begin fighting, Stavos said, "And tell your girlfriend to stop hiding behind the fountain."

Both Karis and Tyrell flushed, and Matthew, though he would have normally laughed at the pair's reactions, instead tried using Growth to subdue the Tua commanders, but Stavos unearthed parts of the floor to allow him and Pentis to escape the vines. Karis used Spark Plasma, but Pentis used Tempest to throw her aim off, and Karis ended up hitting part of an arch instead. Amiti used Megacool to create a bed of ice underneath Pentis and Stavos, and the two of them jumped off just as Tyrell used Pyroclasm to shatter the platform Stavos had created. Pentis pointed her Lachesis' Rule at Amiti, and fired a Blue Bolt at the Mercury Adept just as he shot a Deluge at the two of them, electrocuting him into unconsciousness. Matthew unleashed Radiant Fire, but Stavos dodged the sudden burst of flame and raised the Excalibur above his head, ready to strike.

Stavos unleashed Legend, causing two purple bolts of energy to strike the fountain where Karis was, who then got her right leg pinned under a piece of rubble from the shattered fountain. Matthew, in retaliation, attempted Ragnarok on Stavos, who lazily stepped out of the sword's way before trying to subdue Matthew with Sleep.

Tyrell quickly shuffled a few of his Mars Djinn with Matthew's Venus Djinn, and he used Inferno just as Karis shot a Tempest from her position on the floor, creating a fiery tornado that flung the two commanders into a wall. Matthew then used Clay Spire and sent the rocks through the fire whirl, causing several red-hot chunks of rock to fly right at Pentis and Stavos, who narrowly dodged the projectiles as they splattered against the wall. The two commanders then focused on Tyrell and Karis, the former standing in front of the latter in a protective stance, as after Matthew had traded Djinn with Tyrell once more, he had ran over to Amiti to move him to a safe place. After a few moments of silence, Pentis raised her hands in a placating gesture and said, "Give it up. We don't want to cause any more damage than is necessary-"

"That's a load of _BULLSHIT_!"

The axe clattered to the floor as Tyrell, being restrained at the ankles by Karis, had attempted to lunge right at the two. With venom in his voice, the Mars Adept snarled, "Your second Mourning Moon killed nearly half the people in Kalay, and _now_ you're concerned with casualties? Go to hell!" Shaking Karis off, he picked up his axe and threw it at Stavos, who barely managed to dodge the ballistic weapon as it embedded itself in the wall. Stavos, after mumbling, "Pentis, a little help, please..." then used Teleport, and he, along with Pentis, disappeared in a flash.

Once the two were gone, Matthew and Amiti, who was still disoriented, joined Tyrell and Karis, and the four of them looked around at the damage done to Ayuthay. The plaza was absolutely scorched, the walls and floor were marked by gashes from the Herculean Axe, and there was a hole in a wall near the Alchemy Well. After a little bit, Matthew panted in exhaustion and said, "We're going to Passaj to stay the night."

Karis and Amiti both nodded in agreement, and Tyrell, after calming down, nodded tiredly, the fight having expended much of his Psynergetic capabilities. With some effort, he, Matthew, and Amiti were able to lift the piece of rubble off of Karis, and Tyrell helped Karis walk out of the city.

* * *

Once they had reached Passaj, Tyrell and Amiti crashed on beds immediately, Karis, now wearing a metal splint on her right leg, having changed into sleepwear in the bathroom, lay on her bed, pondering about what the Tuaparang were capable of, and Matthew sat at a desk, quill and parchment laid out in front of him, as he wrote a letter to his father. Once he had written the letter, he stuffed it into an envelope and passed it to a dove, who set off for Kalay once it read the location to which it was addressed to.

* * *

Isaac pulled the piping hot loaf of bread out of the oven, and unlike Jenna's, it stayed completely intact. Cutting the loaf into slices, he passed around a couple slices each to Jenna and Gail, before taking out a jar of hard nut butter along with some apple jam, and he smeared a large amount of the butter onto one of his slices of bread before lightly spreading some jam onto the other slice. Passing the spreads to Jenna, Isaac then took a bite out of his sandwich, only for a bird to fly in with an envelope tied to its feet. Isaac untied the letter, politely shooed the dove away, and looked at the name of the sender.

"Matthew?"

Jenna, in the middle of spreading jam, looked at her husband before passing the two jars over to Gail and running over to Isaac's side as he unfolded the letter. The letter read:

_Dad,_

_It'd have been nice if you wrote a bit more during the Grave Eclipse, but this is a good start, I suppose. Unfortunately, we have not seen Uncle Felix or Auntie Sheba at all, though we have run into two Tuaparang commanders named Pentis and Stavos, both in the Konpa Ruins and Ayuthay, which as of now, has a Psynergy Vortex underneath the main castle. What's strange is that Stavos knew my name, so unless the Tuaparang have been keeping tabs on us, then the commanders are probably people that know us personally._

_Karis has a broken leg, so we're currently staying in Passaj for a bit until she can walk using a splint. Once our Psynergy regenerates, we will try to heal her, but the fight with the Tua commanders really drained us, Tyrell especially._

_Can you also ask Mom to send a letter to Eoleo's mother to come and meet me in Belinsk? We're heading there next, and we'll most likely end up running into Kraden along the way, so with Eoleo, we can use his ship to get Himi from Yamata, and then we can meet you in Kalay afterwards. Hope you and Mom are doing well, and tell Gail that her cousin says hi._

_Sincerely,_

_Matthew_

_P.S.: Dad... Sveta and I aren't at that stage yet. Thank the Jenei that no one read the letter you sent me..._

Isaac chuckled at that last part, and told Jenna, "Matthew asked if you could write a letter to Chaucha."

"What for?"

"He needs to meet Briggs' son in Belinsk."

Jenna nodded before going to the desk to write to Chaucha, and Gail asked, "Uncle Isaac, I was wondering, can you practice sparring with me?" His eyes lighting up with excitement, Isaac ran to get his greatsword from his and Jenna's room before joining Gail outside.

* * *

Felix treated one of his burn wounds with a Cure Well, as Sheba fretted over his now-short hair, having cut it just a month ago, because, in her words, 'he looked like a hobo.' Turning to Sheba, Felix asked, "The letter was sent to Kraden, right?"

Sheba nodded and took off her hood as well, revealing her pixie cut, before replying with, "Felix, we need to do some serious explaining when we meet the kids in Belinsk... I don't think that Garet's son will be too welcoming, considering what just happened in Ayuthay."

Felix considered what his wife had just said, and nodded, saying, "You're right. But the question is... when we do confront them in Belinsk, will Kraden be with us or against us? Because you and I both know he _will_ be there..."

Sheba, thinking long and hard, sighed, admitting, "I don't know."

* * *

Garet reached the door of Jenna's house, and a few houses down, Ivan, having seen Garet walk into Kalay through his workshop, finished his latest modification to the mostly repaired soarwing that Isaac had sent to him, and, quietly sneaking out of his house and behind Garet, he whispered, "Boo."

Garet jumped up in alarm, and Ivan collapsed to the floor in laughter before pulling himself up and asking, "So, what brings you here, Garet?"

"I decided to visit once Carver finally let me leave his camp."

Fixing his short ponytail, Ivan scratched his chin in thought before saying, "Hey, why don't we see Jenna?"

"That's exactly what I was going to do, genius."

Ivan knocked on Jenna's door, and much to their surprise, Isaac answered, exclaiming, "Ivan, it's good to see you again!" With a small laugh, he pulled his shorter friends in for a hug before letting them in. To their immediate right, they saw Jenna writing a letter to someone, and she stopped for a bit to greet the two before returning to her letter. Gail greeted Garet and Ivan, and the two of them waved back before sitting with Isaac at the big table. Looking at his two closest friends, Isaac said, "Now that you're here, Ivan, we both need to tell you something..."

Ivan, absently playing with his wrench, looked up and vocalized with a little "Hm?"

Garet continued with, "Our kids are off trying to stop the Tuaparang."

That had gotten the Jupiter Adept's attention. Looking up, he asked, "Did I hear that right?" Isaac and Garet both nodded, and Ivan asked, "Why?"

Isaac grimly said, "They can create the Psynergy Vortexes with machines. They're the reason why Alina died ten years ago."

Garet's expression darkened, and he said, "Tyrell loved his mother a lot, and I'm a little worried about how he'd react to that news, since he's the one who has the weapon, not me."

After a light chuckle at Garet's attempt at a joke, Isaac asked, "So, any updates on the soarwing?"

Ivan perked up, and began to tell them about the modifications he had made to the soarwing while repairing it.

* * *

Kraden and Rief walked into a surprisingly empty Belinsk, and Kraden said, "Doesn't it feel good to be back in Belinsk, Rief?"

Rief, his Atropos' Rod in hand, replied, "Yeah, especially since there's no Grave Eclipse anymo-" Looking up, the Mercury Adept saw a Psynergy Vortex above the hidden entrance of the Belinsk Ruins and he muttered to himself, "Oh, good grief..."

At the same time, two Adepts materialized in front of them using Teleport, and pointed their weapons, a Lachesis' Rule and the Excalibur respectively, at the scholar and his student. The one wielding the sword said, "Ah, long time no see, Kraden." Looking to his partner, who gave a nod, he said, "It's time we revealed who we really are..."

The Adepts removed their cloaks and masks, and Rief stared in shock before wiping his glasses to see if he was hallucinating or not. Felix and Sheba, the two Warriors of Vale who were missing for almost two decades, stood in front of them, and Felix said, "Kraden, we need to talk."

* * *

**With the exception of Felix, the other Warriors of Vale use Sora-G-Silverwind's (great artist, follow her on DeviantArt) adult designs. Pixie cut Sheba and mechanic Ivan were just too good to pass up, and I think Felix shed about 4 pounds worth of hair with his new 'do.**

**Defender31415, thanks for the kind words, and thanks to both you and Culebra del Sol for the follows.**

**To any and all who come across this story, leave a review if you wish, they're always welcome!**


	4. Felix and Sheba Explain It All

**If you're worried about Sveta's absence when she and Matthew are going to be the star couple of this story, don't worry, she'll be coming in soon.**

**Character ages:**

**Isaac - 48**

**Jenna - 47**

**Garet - 48**

**Felix - 49**

**Sheba - 45**

**Piers - ?**

**Ivan - 44**

**Mia - 48**

**Matthew - 17**

**Karis - 17**

**Tyrell - 17**

**Rief - 16**

**Amiti - 20**

**Sveta - 17**

**Eoleo - 33**

**Himi - 15**

**Gail - 18**

**Enjoy the fourth chapter of this story!**

* * *

Felix, Sheba, Rief, and Kraden were all situated inside Belinsk's sanctum, mirroring Felix's own reunion with Isaac and his friends all those years ago in Contigo. Kraden asked, "So, Felix, what brings you here after all these years? Just what have the two of you been doing?"

Felix answered with, "It's complicated... very complicated." Out of habit, he reached up to his head to fix his hair before remembering that Sheba had cut it short, and then he looked at Rief and asked Kraden, "What's this kid doing here?"

"Rief is my apprentice. He and his sister, Nowell were travelling with me until the events of the Grave Eclipse. I presume Nowell went off with Piers, and Rief over here was one of the eight who stopped the Grave Eclipse. But I've said enough, what have you and Sheba been doing these last fifteen years?"

Felix sighed and said, "Well, after the Golden Sun, remember how we were all involved in helping the world recover in the immediate aftermath?" Kraden nodded, and Felix continued, "The Tuaparang also emerged around that time. Originally, they were just remnants of Dodonpa's group of thieves, but after about five years, they somehow managed to construct some kind of flying city, and _another _five years after that, they managed to develop the technology for artificial Psynergy Vortexes."

Kraden opened his mouth to raise a counterpoint, but Felix cut him off with, "The first ten years of Psynergy Vortexes were all natural. I can only assume that it was Weyard trying to drain the surplus Alchemy from the land to reestablish balance. Everything else after the first Mourning Moon, however, was the Tuaparang's doing." Rief swallowed a lump in his throat as a feeling of dread came over him, and Felix continued, "Shortly after the first Mourning Moon, most of us married our respective partners." Affectionately squeezing his wife's shoulders, he said, "I married Sheba, Isaac married my sister, Ivan married someone named Madeline, Garet married Alina, and Mia married Baxter."

Felix was about to continue, but he heard something scratch at the window, and with the Excalibur in his hand, he cautiously opened the window and took a look out, only to eat a punch to the face that was reinforced by a hard knuckleduster. Sheba raised her Lachesis' Rule and pointed it at the intruder, saying, "Not another step! Touch my husband one more time, and you'll be eating an Apocalypse right to the face!"

The intruder then took a sniff at the air and asked, "Rief?"

Rief looked up, and he immediately realized who it was. Looking at Felix, he quickly cast a Ply before saying to the Venus and Jupiter Adepts, "This is Sveta, the queen of Belinsk. Sveta, these are two of the Warriors of Vale, Felix and Sheba."

Sveta shook both of their hands, issuing a sheepish apology to Felix, and turning to Kraden and Rief, she asked, "Have the two of you happened across Matthew on your travels?" A slight blush crept upon her face as she finished the sentence, and Kraden shook his head. Sveta's ears drooped, but she perked up as she turned to the two legendary Adepts, saying, "You may stay in the palace if you wish, there are some guest rooms on the first floor."

Sheba responded with, "That sounds nice."

Felix nodded before mouthing to Kraden, _"I'll continue my explanation tomorrow,"_ and Sveta asked the two of them to come to the castle.

Before she left, however, she asked Kraden and Rief, "If Matthew comes along, can you please alert me? I would like to see him again..." Rief gave a light snicker at that last part, but he nodded seriously at Sveta's request, and the young queen smiled before walking to the palace with the two Warriors of Vale.

* * *

Sveta bode her two guests good night before walking up to her quarters. Undoing her braids, she couldn't help but wonder what was up with the Psynergy Vortex in the middle of the square, as well as how Matthew and the others were doing. The former thought was what kept her up for most of the night, as she hadn't seen a Psynergy Vortex since she was thirteen. Before drifting off into sleep, she looked at a picture of her with the other Warriors of the Eclipse before they left Belinsk, which was taken through the use of a recently invented device called a 'camera.' In it, Eoleo was giving Amiti an affectionate noogie, which the Mercury Adept did not appear to be comfortable with, Himi and Karis flashed peace signs, Tyrell and Rief struck admittedly funny poses, and she and Matthew stood in the center, their arms over each other's shoulders, with her giggling from a joke Matthew had told her before taking the picture.

Sighing in reminiscence, the queen of Belinsk drifted into a peaceful sleep...

* * *

Matthew, upon waking up, was greeted with the unwavering stare of a barn owl. Nearly falling off his chair—for he had fallen asleep at the desk—the Venus Adept looked at what the bird was carrying in its beak. Two letters, neatly sealed inside envelopes, one with the wax seal of Belinsk, fell onto the table. Matthew, in gratitude, ruffled the bird's head before sending it away with a small box full of live mice that he had found in a tree, for some reason. Opening the one without the seal, he saw, much to his delight, that it was another letter from his father. It read:

_Matthew,_

_Your mother has sent the letter to Chaucha. With that in mind, I advise that you get to Belinsk as quickly as you can, as from what you have told me about your travels, Eoleo is rather impatient. Also, we have gotten a letter from Kraden that said that he is waiting for the four of you in Belinsk with Rief._

_It's unfortunate that Karis has broken her leg, Garet, Jenna, and I wish her a speedy recovery. I'm pretty sure that Ivan's not going to take this news well, you know how overprotective he is normally. As for the Tuaparang, I can't say that I've heard much about them, but I do vaguely remember your Uncle Felix saying that he needed to do something about the Tuaparang fifteen years ago. That was the last thing any of us had heard him say... I have a hunch on who these commanders are, but I'm not entirely certain. Just remain vigilant throughout your journey, son._

_And once you do come back to Kalay, Jenna has a gift for you, so talk to her once you've re-acclimated to the city, okay?_

_Safe travels,_

_Isaac_

_P.S.: Do you think I need to trim my beard?_

Matthew let out a small laugh at the postscript note, and he then shifted his attention to the other envelope, which had a faint scent of lavender, along with the occasional minuscule scratch on the covering. Taking in the scent, which reminded him of Sveta, he opened the envelope to find a letter, which like the envelope it was in, smelled like lavender. Sighing dreamily, Matthew unfolded the letter, which read:

_Dear Matthew,_

_How have you been lately? Belinsk has been awfully quiet in the days you and the others have been gone. But today has been quite odd, Kraden and Rief were in town with two people who are of the Warriors of Vale. Their names were Felix and Sheba, if I'm remembering correctly. These travelers seemed rather polite, if not shrouded in mystery. If you can come to Belinsk, please do, I would love to talk to you again._

_Sincerely,_

_Sveta_

Matthew looked at the contents of the letter in astonishment. His uncle and aunt were in Belinsk? Rief and Kraden were there too? His mind quickly made up, he shook Amiti and Tyrell awake and said to the two, "We need to go to Belinsk right now."

Tyrell sleepily muttered, "Wha?" Matthew yanked the covers off of Tyrell, and the Mars Adept grumbled, "I'm up, I'm up."

Karis woke up, feeling rather rested, and she looked at Matthew, Tyrell, and Amiti urgently packing their supplies, and she asked, "What's going on?"

Matthew curtly responded with, "Felix and Sheba are in Belinsk with Kraden and Rief, according to Sveta. I made a promise to my dad that I'd write as soon as I saw them again, so we need to get there quickly." That almost got Karis to jump out of the bed, but remembering her shattered leg, she instead used Healthy Gust to heal it to the point where she could walk again. Removing the splint, she walked into the washroom to change into her traveling clothes.

Once the four of them were ready to leave, they went up to the peak of Passaj to go through the clouds once more. Up there, they saw a mixture of creatures that had either been corrupted by the Grave Eclipse or imbued by the power of the Apollo Lens. Despite the risk that the creatures presented, none of them even tried to attack, much to the confusion of the four Adepts.

Upon reaching the Craggy Peak Ruins, or as Karis called it, 'The Zodiac Tower,' they went down the passage that led to the Morgal region instead of exploring the ruins for a second time, much to Amiti's disappointment. As they were jumping down various platforms, Tyrell said to Amiti in annoyance, "Why on Weyard would we consider going back _down_ there? We almost drove Rief insane through how we tried to solve the puzzles!"

Matthew joined in with, "You mean that one with the goat statue, right? Oh, ancients above, that was atrocious!" Everyone laughed at that one, before stopping in Te Rya for a quick shopping trip. Once they had stocked up on Antidotes and Elixirs, they walked into the Teppe Ruins. Above them, some Tua soldiers were talking amongst themselves.

One of the soldiers looked at the four Adepts walk into the ruins, and he said, "Those are the four Adepts Blados said to watch out for?"

Another soldier looked at the illustrations of the eight Adepts they had been told to watch for—given to them by Chalis—and he said, "Four out of the eight. One of them is of a high political position in Ayuthay, and I think that one's traveling with the main three as they speak."

"Main three? You mean the children of the Warriors of Vale?"

"That'd be correct, yes. Why don't we kidnap the four of them and send a ransom note to Ayuthay and to the Warriors of Vale so we can make a quick buck?"

"I like how you think, Ramirez. So, we're kidnapping them?"

Every one of the twenty soldiers on the roof nodded, and the leading soldier, Ramirez, commanded them to move out.

* * *

Matthew, clearing out a tangle of vines with the Sol Blade, heard the sound of footsteps above them. Cautiously holding up a hand in front of his friends, he asked, "Did you hear that?" The four of them cautiously stepped to the exit of the ruins and climbed up the vine leading to the outside, and once they were, they saw that they were surrounded by Tuaparang soldiers. Matthew silently cursed, and whispered to the others, "Ready?"

Karis and Amiti nodded, but he got no response from Tyrell, who was visibly steaming with anger. Fearing that Tyrell would be hit first due to his typical modus operandi of 'strike first, question later,' he used Growth to subdue some of the Tua soldiers while Amiti froze more of them solid with Frostbite. It was then that Tyrell finally exploded, rushing some of the trapped soldiers in a rage and cutting them down with his axe. Turning to another group of soldiers, he unleashed Meltdown, and a wave of fire ripped through their ranks.

Karis used Tornado, which sucked several soldiers into the funnel of wind. Amiti held the Masamune in front of him, concentrating, and he unleashed Rising Dragon, the two enchanted streams of water flying into the tornado and battering the soldiers inside. Once the winds subsided, Karis and Amiti admired their handiwork. Six Tua warriors, their weapons broken into nothing but shards of metal, and their armor mostly shattered thanks to Amiti's Rising Dragon unleash, lay unmoving in the grass.

Matthew whirled around and swung the Sol Blade in an arc, sending a Tua trooper down the entrance through which the four of them had climbed out, and, after looking behind him, kicked another soldier in the midsection, knocking a knife out his hands. Tyrell cracked his knuckles, gave Matthew a nod, and tossed his axe to his best friend before tackling the Tua soldier to the ground and giving him a fiery punch to the head. After massaging his bleeding fist, he looked at a trio of Tua scouts, and with a devilish glint in his eye, Tyrell snapped his fingers to use Liquifier, engulfing the soldiers in several searing hot beams of concentrated fire.

Matthew ran over to Tyrell and began casting Cure on his bloodied hand, while the remaining Tua soldier attempted to make an escape due to the Mars and Venus Adepts being distracted. He didn't get far, however, as moments after he heard a rustle in the nearby grass, he felt a searing pain in his chest before everything faded to black.

Amiti pulled the Masamune out of the soldier's chest and watched as he crumpled to the ground, before spitting out, "Good riddance, Tuaparang scum," and he pulled out a rag he had packed. Sitting down on a rock, the king of Ayuthay began cleaning blood off of the Masamune.

Karis walked up to Matthew and Tyrell and, after an awkward glance between her and Tyrell, she pulled the two of them in for a hug, whispering, "I'm glad nothing bad happened to either of you." Looking at Tyrell, she asked, "Did you really punch that guy, helmet and all?"

Matthew laughed as Tyrell said, "I did! Might've even dented the helmet when I punched it... either way, it's still a taste of what's to come for them."

Letting out a small chuckle, Karis replied, "You're gonna take down a military civilization with just your fists?"

"Karis, as long as I've got you by my side, anything's possible."

Both Adepts flushed at what Tyrell had said, and Matthew not-so-subtly coughed, "Get a room, lovebirds!"

That earned him a hard punch on his right shoulder from both Tyrell and Karis.

After about half an hour of rest, the four of them walked out of the Teppe Ruins and into the region of Morgal.

* * *

Sveta looked into the guest bedroom where Felix and Sheba had been allowed to stay, but she found no sign of the Adepts. Panic began to set in, and she ran out of the castle, frantically looking around the town area of Belinsk (all while the Psynergy Vortex up above the Belinsk Ruins was draining her) for the two, until she entered the sanctum and saw the two of them telling something to Kraden and Rief.

"...Sheba and I had our daughter, Gail, two years after the first Mourning Moon. However, when she was three and Matthew, Tyrell, and Karis were all two, I guess the Empyror recognized the threat we posed as a whole, and also the prospect of having 'a child of the moon tribe' serve in the Tuaparang. He sent elite agents to kidnap Sheba. They caught her off guard and whisked her away to..." Looking at Sheba, he asked, "Care to do the honors, love?"

Sheba obliged, and continued where Felix left off, saying, "Anyways, like Felix said, the Tuaparang kidnapped me and took me to their city. The Empyror roped me into his service with the promise that I would see the Anemos' colony on the moon. If I refused..." Sheba drew a line across her throat with her tongue lolling out lifelessly for dramatic effect, and she continued, "...So I stayed in his service. Six months after, Felix showed up in the city hoping to rescue me, and..."

"...I 'pledged allegiance' to the Tuaparang." Felix said, "Which means, yes, Sheba and I did very reprehensible things." Sighing in regret, he blankly uttered, "If I had to do the last fifteen years over, I would've moved the device for the second Mourning Moon far, far away from Kalay. Maybe Alina would still be alive..."

Kraden sadly nodded, saying, "Alina's death shook up Garet really badly quite some time. Tyrell got scratched by a Dire Wolf not even an hour after her memorial... Garet said that Tyrell claimed to have heard her voice coming from the nearby forest. That would be quite impossible, I'm afraid, unless there was a crocotta mimicking a Dire Wolf in those woods."

"What's a crocotta?"

"Nothing important. Anywhoo, Felix, would you mind continuing?"

Felix nodded, continuing with, "For fifteen years, Sheba and I had to work for a power-hungry madman, the mad samurai with an awful hairdo, and that pink-haired floozy of a commander and do as they pleased. We feared there was no escape... until Blados and Chalis sent out reports of some Adepts named Matthew, Tyrell, and Karis. And almost immediately after, the Empyror tasked Sheba and I with the planting of the Mourning Moon near the Goma Plateau." Looking around at the others, Felix said, "Look, I'm normally not one to believe in _this _branch of knowledge, but it really feels like the stars aligned in our favor..."

Rief, who had been absently mulling over what Felix and Sheba had been explaining, looked out the window, and did a double take once he saw Matthew and the others approaching the gates. Turning to Kraden, he said, "Matthew's coming into town."

That had caught the attention of Felix, Sheba, and Sveta, who had been silently eavesdropping on the whole conversation. Sveta silently slipped out of the sanctum, and Felix and Sheba put their Tua outfits back on and pointed their weapons at Rief and Kraden. Felix said, "Apologies, but we haven't revealed ourselves to them, so we still need to put up the facade..." Snapping his fingers, he tied Rief and Kraden in Growth before dragging them outside.

Sveta was hiding right behind a tree on the outskirts of Belinsk, and as she waited, Matthew's scent was getting more overpowering that it already had been. Once the smell reached its absolute strongest point, she rushed out from the tree and tackled Matthew in a hug, exclaiming, "I've missed you so much!" Matthew returned the hug, but lightly patted Sveta's back to let her know that he was being squeezed a little too tight. She got the message, and helped him back to his feet, where she decided to get another whiff. Behind her, Tyrell and Karis were holding back laughter, and she and Matthew flushed.

Getting back on track, she wiped dust off of her outfit and said to the others, "I have seen Kraden and Rief with those Warriors of Vale you told me so much about during your travels." Walking into the main plaza, she said, "They should be right... here..." Her voice trailed off as she saw two mysterious people in hoods and masks, with Kraden and Rief tied up next to them.

Amiti pulled out the Masamune while Karis, Matthew, and Tyrell did the same with their own weapons. Looking to her right, Sveta noticed that Tyrell actually looked _angry_ as opposed to being mildly annoyed, like how he was throughout much of their journey. Looking at Matthew and Karis, the former motioned that they'd talk about it later, and to also get ready for a fight.

Just as Sveta put on her Mythril Claw, however, she detected something... familiar about the scent of the hooded figures.

Pentis looked at Stavos, and whispered, "She knows." Stavos gave a nod of understanding, and snapped his fingers, imprisoning Sveta in a mixture of vines and rocks that suddenly shot out from the ground. The four Adepts, with Matthew leading them, pointed their weapons at Stavos and Pentis, but Pentis cooed tauntingly, "Oh Matty, you don't want your little girlfriend to get hurt, don't you?" Matthew flushed, but still pointed his weapon at the Tua commanders.

Felix whispered to Sheba, "We're revealing ourselves here, remember? Nothing too risky."

Sheba retorted, "We're already risking our lives and their trust by doing this!"

Before the conversation could continue, however, Tyrell snarled, "Where. Is. The. Machine?"

"We _could _tell you... but I suppose we'll have to kill the lot of you instead." Pulling out the Excalibur, Stavos unleashed Legend, and watched as three bolts of energy homed in towards the Adepts. Matthew quickly used Chasm to shield the four of them, and the battle was on. Karis unleashed Blue Comet, and watched as her arrow, imbibed with the power of the cosmos, hurtled unerringly towards the Tua commanders. Stavos ducked the arrow and used Clay Spire, while Pentis fired Blue Bolt at Amiti, having expected him to go for Deluge again. However, Amiti had learned his lesson from Ayuthay, and he instead used Megacool, causing a bed of ice spikes to race towards Pentis, who used Tempest to dispel the ice, sending massive icicles hurtling into the walls of Belinsk.

While Stavos was trying to deal with Karis, Tyrell had decided to engage the swordsman one-on-one, trading glancing blows with Stavos, who appeared to be taken back by the Adept's anger. Kicking Stavos in the gut, Tyrell unleashed Fury, and the Djinn attacked Stavos with the power of vengeful souls. Staggered by the sheer amount of wrath and hatred he had just experienced, Stavos fell down to one knee and ate a boot to the face, cracking his half-mask.

Matthew, meanwhile, was trying to break Sveta free by carefully cutting through the rock and vines that had trapped her. Once he had finally cut through the rock casing, the vines fell apart after a well-placed slash. Sveta hugged Matthew in gratitude, and once they had separated, she turned to Matthew and said, "The two 'Tua commanders' our friends are fighting _are _Felix and Sheba!"

Matthew's eyes widened at that, and he and Sveta ran back, just in time to see Amiti shatter Pentis' mask with a well-placed elbow, and Tyrell and Karis use their flaming Tempest attack combination to overwhelm Stavos, who had one part of his mask broken off. When the fiery tornado subsided, Matthew, having sheathed his sword, carefully walked up to the two commanders and removed their hoods. Felix and Sheba both groaned out, "Surprise..." as the other Adepts looked on in shock.

His mind racing into overdrive, Matthew told Tyrell to free Rief and Kraden, and for Karis, Amiti, and Sveta to assist him with healing his aunt and uncle. Tyrell ran off, and the other three came over, using the strongest healing Psynergy they possessed. After a bit (along with a Pure Wish from Rief), Felix and Sheba stood up, and the latter said, "My, how the three of you have grown!" Switching to 'concerned parent' mode, she asked, "Where's Gail?"

Matthew's curt response was, "Kalay."

Sheba nodded in relief, but before anyone could ask anymore questions, Sveta said, "Why don't we talk about this over a small lunch?"

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed!**

**Defender31415, thanks for your review, and thanks to BlackPhoebe for the favorite and follow!**

**Reviews are always welcome, don't be afraid to leave one!**


	5. A Day in Belinsk

**Apologies for the gap in between updates, I've been working on other stuff as well as studying for my AP exams.**

**This story may be going on a short (maybe two weeks) break because I'll be temporarily shifting focus to _Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: World of Light_.**

**Anyways, enjoy Chapter 5!**

* * *

Sveta and Matthew were cooking a modest meal for themselves and the other seven people in the dining room, and while Matthew was putting a loaf of bread in the oven, Sveta remarked, "I distinctly remember you telling me that your mother couldn't make bread at all. Is that true?"

Matthew laughed, and replied, "Yep. My dad can make bread just fine, but whenever my mom does it, it just ends up crumbling once she takes it out of the oven." Looking behind him, he said, "I hope they enjoy meat sandwiches for dinn- wait, where'd the meat go?" Sveta burped and meekly uttered an apology, but Matthew laughed and slung an arm over her shoulder, saying, "We can just make another batch, it'll take... thirty minutes?" Sveta nodded, and went to get another slab of meat from the pantry.

* * *

After about forty-five minutes, Matthew and Sveta exited the kitchen, the latter giggling at one of Matthew's many stories, and the two of them set the food down on the table before taking a seat next to each other.

"...and so, Tyrell and Karis ended up going overboard on that one shallow spot, remember that?" As Sveta nodded, her laughs becoming louder, Matthew continued, "We didn't even realize they were gone for about four hours until we had sailed back to Yamata!"

Across the table from them, Karis grumbled in irritation, but Tyrell (due to having been knocked unconscious from his stumble off the boat) asked out of curiosity, "What happened?"

Karis urgently motioned for Matthew to stop talking, but the Venus Adept instead continued, "As we were approaching the two of you, we saw Karis give you a kiss—on the lips, might I add—and you woke up!" As everyone else at the table besides Felix and Sheba laughed, Karis hid a furious blush on her face while glaring at Matthew with a look that screamed 'I'm going to kill you,' and Tyrell rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

Kraden chuckled at that, musing to himself, "Ah, nothing like young love mixed with a hint of desperation..."

Amiti turned to the two adults, and he asked, "You are of the Warriors of Vale, right?" Felix and Sheba nodded, and the Ayuthian king continued, "I was wondering... do you know who my father is?"

Felix and Sheba began talking among themselves, and Amiti only managed to catch small bits of what they were saying.

"...Piers is still single... always has been."

"...Mia never sired a third child."

"So that means..."

Felix and Sheba paled at their realization, and they turned to Amiti and shook their heads in apology. Amiti apologized for troubling the two, though the question of who his father was still lingered in his mind. Once dinner was done, they all headed to the common room so that Matthew, Tyrell, Karis, and Amiti could listen to Felix and Sheba's story.

* * *

"...And that's everything that happened." Felix had finished telling the entire story, and looking at the Adept's faces, he saw that Matthew's mouth was hanging open, Karis had her hands clapped to her mouth in shock, Amiti's head was tilted in confusion, and Tyrell looked like he was right about to kill someone.

Sveta, in an attempt to diffuse the tension in the room, said, "Um... guest rooms are on the second floor. Good night?"

Tyrell simply stomped up to the second floor, and everyone else cringed at the sound of a door slamming. Matthew was the next to leave, and he silently went to go talk to Tyrell. One by one, the others filed out until it was just Felix and Sheba sitting with Kraden. Felix lowly muttered, "The kids hate me. Should've expected it, but it still stings..." Sheba hugged her husband in an attempt to console him as Kraden sadly looked on.

Later on in the night, Felix walked out of the room and towards the statue in the plaza that hid the Belinsk Ruins. Reaching into a small compartment he had made while trying to hide the device that controlled the Psynergy Vortex, he pressed the gold button, and up above, the vortex of anti-Psynergy dissipated into thin air. Looking at the device in his hand, he contemplated crushing it and never talking about it again until a voice behind him said, "Uncle Felix?"

Turning around, Felix saw Matthew in his sleepwear standing right behind him. Matthew then continued, "Sorry about Tyrell. He's... normally not like this. Ever since he found out that the Tuaparang-"

"_I_ was responsible for what happened to his mother. I told you guys that I planted the machine there-"

"But did you choose Kalay on purpose, or were you forced to?"

"...Forced. Anyways, what are you doing up so late at night?"

"I was going to write to Dad about finding you and Sheba, and then I heard something going on downstairs... you would like to hear from Isaac again, right?"

"I... that would be nice, yes." Felix then followed his nephew to a desk, where Matthew had a completed letter next to an envelope.

Gesturing to the desk, Matthew said, "You can write to him if you want. Let me just put one more thing on the front..." Scrawling a 'please look at the back of the parchment,' Matthew then went back upstairs to get some sleep, while Felix burned the midnight Oil Drops writing to his brother-in-law.

The next morning, Felix woke up to the sound of weapons clashing outside the palace. Rubbing his eyes, he looked at the letter he had completed. Putting it in the envelope, he tied the letter to his little raven robot, and coordinated it for a return trip to Kalay and back.

* * *

Isaac had just come back to the house with his bag full of groceries, and just as he was going to open the door, he saw a raven on his roof, tilting its head at him. The bird then flew at him, dropping a letter in the bag before flying off. Isaac looked at Ivan across the street, but he helplessly shrugged from his workshop before going back to work on the soarwing. Walking into the house, he set the bag of groceries onto the counter before taking the envelope out of the bag. Looking at the sender's name, he was just about to open it before doing a double-take. On the envelope, it said, 'Matthew and Felix.' Isaac yelled for Jenna, Garet, and Gail to come inside or downstairs, and he ran across the street to fetch Ivan from his workshop.

Ivan wiped some soot off of his face as Isaac half-dragged him into his house, saying, "Isaac, this had better be important, because-" Isaac cut him off by showing him who had sent the letter. Ivan, now at a loss for words, followed Isaac into the main living space, where Garet had already cracked open a bottle of Proxian beer, much to Jenna's disapproval, and Gail, who simply looked confused. Ivan situated himself next to Jenna, and she looked at him with concern, because the Jupiter Adept looked like he had just seen Charon himself.

Isaac began with, "So today, I got a letter from a raven, and the letter was delivered by Matthew... and Felix."

Garet almost spit out the swill of beer he had taken, while Gail and Jenna turned pale. Neither one of them had seen Felix in fifteen years, and Jenna walked up to her husband and grabbed him by the jacket, desperately pleading, "Please tell me this isn't a joke..." Isaac flashed her the letter to show her that it was indeed real, and she sat back down, almost in shock. Isaac sat between Garet and Jenna before opening the letter and setting it on the table. The letter read:

_Dad, Mom,_

_I have some big news... we've made it to Belinsk, and remember those two Tuaparang commanders I told you about previously? Turns out that they're Uncle Felix and Auntie Sheba! They both got haircuts, too! I'm honestly quite shocked, and I think Tyrell and Karis were just as astounded. Funnily enough, Amiti didn't really say anything, but Rief looked like he already knew what was going on. After lunch, Felix told us what had happened in the last fifteen years, and right now, Tyrell may have just blown up something in the courtyard (yeah... neither of us could sleep). What Felix and Sheba told us was pretty shocking... Sheba got kidnapped by the Tuaparang, and Felix went to their city to save her, before he 'pledged allegiance' to the Tuaparang._

_Turns out he was responsible for the Kalay Mourning Moon._

_I was shocked, Karis was too, and she also looked like she was on the verge of tears. Tyrell looked very, VERY angry once the whole thing was finished, almost like he would've killed Felix, and considering that he learned that Alina's death wasn't an accident only recently, I wouldn't have blamed him if he had punched him. Auntie Sheba was very quiet the whole time._

_Anyways, I also got a letter from Eoleo, saying that he made a preemptive trip to Yamata to pick Himi up for us, and that he'd make it to Belinsk in about two days. This journey hasn't even gotten off the ground, and it looks to be even more chaotic than our last one. Will always be thinking of you both, hopefully I can make it back to Kalay soon._

_Love,_

_Matthew_

_P.S.: Look at the back of the letter._

_P.P.S.: I think the beard is fine, just don't make it too long._

Isaac flipped the letter over, where he saw an entire paragraph scrawled in Felix's handwriting. Jenna let out an audible gasp, and Isaac read:

_Isaac, Sis,_

_How are the both of you? It's been quite a while. I apologize for not writing sooner, but the Tuaparang were incredibly strict when it came to outgoing mail. Anyways, everything your son said in the above letter is true. I'm not proud of anything I had done in that timespan, especially the Kalay Mourning Moon. Garet, if you're reading this, I am deeply, truly sorry about Alina. Also, Matthew was the one who persuaded me to write this in the middle of the night. Sis, Isaac, you've both raised a good kid. That beastgirl is a perfect match for him, from what I've seen..._

_Gail, I'm sorry for not being with you for fifteen years, it's just... your mother and I had a job to do._

_Anyways, I think that all the other kids besides Mia's kid and Matthew hate me. The Ayuthian king is peculiar, he's polite, but very, very naive. I also have a hunch on who his father is... I'll tell you guys when we get back to Kalay. Sheba and I got haircuts, as Matthew said. I cut my hair to about what Ivan's was during our quest to unleash Alchemy, and Sheba's hairstyle almost looks like a boy's. It's a new trend some of the stylists are calling a 'pixie cut.' I think I lost about three pounds just cutting off that stupid ponytail._

_Tangent aside, Sheba and I really, really missed you guys, and we can't wait to see you again in Kalay._

_Sincerely,_

_Felix_

_P.S.: Are Mia and Piers in Kalay? If they are, tell them that I said hello._

Isaac gently set the letter down, looking at it as if it might explode if he took his eyes off it for even a second. Next to him, Garet was staring at the contents of the letter in shock, Ivan ran out of the house and back to his workshop, Jenna was audibly sobbing into Isaac's shirt in a mixture of sadness and joy, and Gail snatched the letter off the table to read its contents once more, causing Garet to join her in reading it.

After an uncomfortable silence that was occasionally interrupted by a hiccup from Jenna, Isaac said, "I'll be writing to Mia and Piers..."

* * *

"Um... I don't really know about this, Sveta..."

"Oh, come on, Matthew, you'll love it!" Sveta dragged Matthew to the Belinsk Opera House, and the receptionist bowed in her presence, causing her to say, "Thank you, but it's not necessary..."

The receptionist said, "Then what'll it be for you and your date, Your Majesty?"

Both Adepts flushed at that question, but Sveta continued, "We would like to see 'Maria and Draco.'"

"Ah, 'Maria and Draco!' That's a hit, I tell you what. In fact, this is the sixth time we've shown that opera in here... go ahead, Your Majesty."

Sveta placed 400 gold coins on the desk of the receptionist, saying, "And I won't take 'no' for an answer." Sveta then dragged Matthew into the top row, where they would be able to get a good view of the orchestra and the setpieces.

* * *

Tyrell had put some crude sketches of Blados and Chalis on two training dummies in the courtyard, and he began slashing at them with his Herculean Axe, trying his best to ignore the nagging voice in the back of his head, as well attempting to avoid accidentally unleashing an attack which would set the courtyard ablaze. Behind him, a voice said, "I don't know about you, but I don't think that's how you're supposed to swing an axe."

Looking behind him, Tyrell saw Sheba, leaning on her Lachesis' Rule, staring out at the carnage that he had left in his wake. Glaring at the Warrior of Vale, he venomously said, "Like _you're_ one to talk..."

Sheba had her hands raised in a placating gesture, and she walked towards the Mars Adept, saying, "Hey, I never asked to be in the Tuaparang, if this is what's this is about. You have every right to be pissed at the Tuaparang for what they did, kid-"

"Don't call me 'kid.' My name is Tyrell!"

Sheba appeared unimpressed, and she continued, "As I was saying, you have every right to be mad at them for what they did-"

Tyrell pointed his axe at Sheba, and he choked out, "You guys killed my mom. You could've placed it in some random forest, an island, or at the very edge of the world... why did you choose a town? Weyard was practically _drowning_ in Alchemy at the time!"

Sheba refuted, "But we didn't have a choice. Felix and I fought as hard as we could to place it anywhere _but _in Kalay, because we knew that our friends were still living there, but we ended up getting overruled by those other two commanders. Look... Tyrell, I'm sorry that you lost your mother as a direct result of our actions, I really am, but that's all in the past, and unfortunately, there's no Psynergy that can resurrect the dead. What matters now is that we stop the Tuaparang before they do anymore damage to Weyard."

Tyrell sniffled and wiped his nose on his sleeve and said, "You're right." Looking at the Jupiter Adept, he gave her his first genuine smile in a few days and gratefully said, "Thanks... Sheba." The Jupiter Adept affectionately ruffled Tyrell's hair before walking inside, only to come face-to-face with Karis.

Nervously rubbing her hands together, Karis looked up at Sheba and said, "Thank you for talking to him." Sheba smiled at Karis before walking off, whispering, "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me," and with a fiery red blush on her face, Karis went outside to talk with Tyrell, who was still wiping his eyes.

Taking a seat next to him, she asked, "What happened?"

Tyrell gave her a watery smile, and said, "Sheba talked to me about the Kalay Mourning Moon, and also mentioned that she and Felix didn't want to place it there... I kinda feel like a jackass for acting like how I did towards them." Just as Karis was about to say something, his stomach let out a loud growl, and he and Karis collapsed in a fit of laughter before pulling themselves up and walking into the kitchen.

* * *

"The forces of the West fell, and Maria's castle was taken. Prince Ralse, of the East, took her hand by force. But she never stopped yearning for Draco..." The Impresario then stepped off the stage, and Sveta stealthily slipped her fingers in between Matthew's, as she knew what was coming next.

The beastwoman playing Maria then stepped out onto the tower, and began singing:

_"Oh my hero, so far away now. Will I ever see your smile?  
__Love goes away, like night into day, it's just a fading dream.  
I'm the darkness, you're the stars. Our love is brighter than the sun.  
For eternity, for me there can be, only you, my chosen one...  
Must I forget you? Our solemn promise? Will autumn take the place of spring?  
What shall I do? I'm lost without you. Speak to me once more!"_

Matthew was taken aback by the sheer beauty of the song, and from there on out, he was hooked on the play.

Once the play was over, they saw that it had gotten dark outside, and the two of them walked back to the castle, with Matthew entertaining Sveta with a small puppet of a dog he had bought at one of the vendor stands.

Felix and Sheba were in the middle of discussing how they would be able to find Piers in the Angaran seas, but before they could continue, Matthew and Sveta walked into the main palace, the two of them clearly enjoying each other's company. Sheba, remembering how she had teased Jenna at Madra, turned to Matthew, and in jest, asked, "When's the wedding?" Matthew's face became a bright red, and he was reduced to a spluttering mess, while Sveta hid her own blush by covering her face with her hands.

As Sheba laughed at their embarrassment, Felix let out a somewhat exasperated chuckle as he said to his wife, "You never get tired of that, do you?"

Sheba responded with a chipper "Nope!" just as a loud crashing noise came from the kitchen.

* * *

**Whew, this was really fun to write!**

**BlackPhoebe, thank you so much for your review! Regarding your questions... **

**1\. Felix and Sheba wanted to keep the masquerade for a bit longer to throw off the Empyror. **

**2\. The kids initially felt uneasy about it, but with the knowledge of the Tuaparang's plot, they (especially Tyrell) have no qualms about it regarding Tua soldiers.**

**3\. All the super-advanced technology is with the Tuaparang.**

**On the topic of the sales of the _Golden Sun _trilogy, using rough estimates as well as stats from Wikipedia and other sources, I'd say that 3.58 million across three games isn't half bad for a series as underrated as this one.**

**And yes, that was a _Final Fantasy VI _reference. It's the game that got me into JRPGs in the first place.**

**Anyways, leave a review if you wish, feedback is always welcome!**


	6. Revelations of Light and Dark

**I'm baaaack! Might've been a little later than what I promised, but hey, better late than never, right?**

**Enjoy Chapter 6!**

* * *

Amiti sat underneath the stars at the Belinsk Pier, silently contemplating who his father could possibly be. From what he had heard, Piers, the world-famous Lemurian sailor, was still single, and judging by the news he had heard from his uncle when he was growing up, anyone from Imil's Mercury Clan seemed highly unlikely, due to them having closed off their borders for the first decade of Weyard's change after the Golden Sun. Absently using his Psynergy, a small cloud of water materialized in his hand, and with a lazy flick of his hand, Amiti sent the Douse flying backwards. Behind him, he heard an indignant shout of, "Hey, watch where you're throwing that!" Amiti turned around to apologize, but stopped short upon seeing who it was.

Eoleo, was looking down at the Mercury Adept with his arms folded, and he asked, "Hey, what's the matter, Bubblehead?"

Though the Amiti before the Grave Eclipse would've coldly rebuffed Eoleo, the present-day Amiti quietly asked, "What was your father like?"

Eoleo, though he was caught off guard by the question, situated himself next to Amiti, and he began, "My dad... he was a great man. Yeah, sometimes he screwed up, or occasionally got a bit too big for his britches... ESPECIALLY thirty years ago, when Felix and company first showed up in Madra, but his heart was always in the right place, be it for Champa's wellbeing or for Mom and Grandma's sake." Turning to the Mercury Adept, he asked, "What's it to you, kiddo?"

Amiti, his head resting on his left hand, quietly said, "I still haven't found out who my father is... Kraden said that he would tell me after the Grave Eclipse, but I guess he just forgot."

Eoleo stood up and helped Amiti back up to his feet, saying, "Well, it's still pretty late, why not just get some rest? You can think about this in the morning."

* * *

Matthew, rubbing his eyes as he got out of his bed, looked outside the window and blanched upon seeing a Champan flag on one of the ships in the pier. Changing into his regular jeans, he had just taken off his pajama shirt and was about to put on his normal one before hearing a soft squeak come from just outside the room. Whipping around, Matthew saw... no one. Cursing under his breath at the fact that he had forgotten to close the door, Matthew did just that before putting on his shirt, jacket, and scarf.

Near the front of the palace, Sveta sighed in relief at the fact that Matthew hadn't caught her staring at him. During their journey, she had often tried to... 'eat the eye candy,' as they typically said in Indra, which to her, meant lengthy stares of longing towards the Adept, for she had been deeply enamored with him ever since he and his party had first encountered her in the Teppe Ruins. Whether it was out of her liking his particular scent or some other factor, she gradually began falling in love with him over the course of their journey, culminating in them sharing souls at the Apollo Sanctum.

Sighing, Sveta thought to herself, _"He's kind, funny, and just a great person in general... I wish politics weren't such a burden sometimes so I could spend more time with him."_

A voice behind her said, "I can agree with that, politics are just the worst." Sveta's ears perked up, and she turned around to see Sheba standing right behind her. Laughing at the sudden flush of color in Sveta's face, she tapped her head and said, "Unlike Ivan, Mind Read has proven very, very useful for me over the last three decades, especially when it came to manipulating the soldiers."

Looking back at the older woman, Sveta asked, "How much of my mind did you read?"

"Pretty much everything from the last fifteen minutes. According to Ivan's research, as one gets older, their Psynergy reaches further in addition to being stronger. I suppose us unleashing the Golden Sun gave your generation a headstart on that, huh?" Sveta blushed at the fact that Sheba had pretty much read an essay-length thought about how great Matthew was, but the elder Jupiter Adept laughed before walking outside, where Felix was already waiting with Tyrell, Rief, and Karis.

Matthew walked out of the room he had been staying in, and as he walked to the door, he placed a hand on Sveta's shoulder and whispered, "You kinda need to work on stealth..." Sveta blushed something fierce, as that meant that Matthew had deduced that it was her who was checking him out. Once outside, Matthew asked, "Any final preparations?"

Sveta then quickly sprinted back into the palace before returning to the others in roughly three minutes. As everyone gave her quizzical looks, she said, "I needed to assign a trusted advisor with temporary supervision over Belinsk." Slipping the Mythril Claw onto her right hand, she asked, "I suppose this means that we can go?" Everyone nodded, and Matthew, with his uncle and aunt next to him, walked to the pier, where they saw Eoleo waving at them.

Eoleo was about to issue a greeting to Matthew, but the Champan pirate caught sight of the two adults with Matthew, and his eyes were wide in shock. Looking at Matthew, Eoleo asked, "You're not pulling a fast one on me, are you?" Matthew shook his head, and Eoleo walked up to the two adults before shaking their hands, saying, "It's been ages since I've last seen you two!"

Felix smiled, and said, "It really has. How have Briggs and Chaucha been lately?"

Eoleo's smile faded a little, as he said, "Mom's fine, but Dad... he died during the Grave Eclipse." Felix and Sheba exchanged saddened looks before offering their condolences to Eoleo.

Sheba, in an attempt to change the subject, looked at the light blade on Eoleo's belt, and asked, "Isn't that the Pirate's Sabre we gave Obaba?" Eoleo looked at his belt before nodding in confirmation, and Sheba smiled in approval.

Looking back at the kids, he called out, "Does anyone have a particular destination in mind?"

Matthew, Tyrell, and Karis all said in unison, "Kalay."

"It's settled, then!" Later, once Eoleo made sure everyone was onboard, he yelled, "To Kalay we go!"

* * *

Once they were on the open ocean, Matthew stood at the bow of the boat, admiring the seemingly endless ocean. Behind him, Karis and Sveta were explaining the rules of truth-or-dare to Amiti and Himi, Tyrell was playing around with some of Eoleo's pirating gear, and Sheba was talking to Rief about some of her experience in the Tuaparang's service that the Mercury Adept was furiously jotting down for future research. Among those notes were things like advanced technology, new weapons, and experiments on light and darkness due to the presence of the Umbra Clan.

Felix walked up to Matthew, and asked, "So, enjoying the ocean?"

Matthew gave a small nod as he looked out at the horizon, absently mulling over what he had seen during the Grave Eclipse. After taking another look at his uncle, Matthew asked, "Was your hair really that long?" Felix laughed as he nodded, pulling out a mugshot from his tenth year of service in the Tuaparang, and Matthew saw that his hair reached all the way down to his thighs. Trying his best to not burst out in laughter, Matthew wheezed, "Holy _shit_!"

Felix playfully flicked Matthew's head, replying, "Hey, kiddo, don't forget that I'm still your uncle, watch your language!"

Sheba looked at Matthew and Felix laughing, and she asked herself, "He showed him the mugshot, didn't he?" Looking around, she noticed that it was awfully quiet. Something wasn't quite right... and the realization hit her just as she yelled, "Oh, damn it, we forgot about Kraden!"

* * *

Kraden had just stepped onto the Belinsk Pier, and he began looking for Eoleo's ship, calling out, "Matthew? Karis? Rief? Tyrell?" Upon realizing the situation he was in, he muttered to himself, "Oh, drat..."

* * *

Evening had fallen upon Kalay, and Isaac, after spending most of the day in Ivan's workshop, bid his friend a good night, walking back to his and Jenna's residence across the street. Upon walking in, he heard Garet's snoring from the guest room, and he gave Gail a hug before kissing his wife. Looking at her husband, Jenna asked, "So, any progress on the soarwing?"

"Ivan's been trying to make it easier to use... but so far, everything we've been trying to do has either blown up in our faces or caused tornadoes to appear." As the two laughed, Jenna asked, "Do you think Mia and Piers will be here soon?"

Isaac, scratching his beard in thought, mused, "Maybe Mia will get here first... after all, Piers is still sailing."

Jenna nodded in agreement, saying, "You're probably right." Reaching into a chest filled with ice, she asked, "Then how about we try our hand at making that Imilian ice cream that Mia likes so much as a welcoming gift?"

Isaac nervously rubbed the back of his head and laughed, "Wasn't the last time we tried that a big disaster?"

"This time'll be different!"

* * *

Himi, with a smirk on her face, asked, "So, Amiti... truth or dare?"

"Hmm... dare, I suppose."

"I dare you... to wear this for the rest of the day!" Running into her quarters, she retrieved a Sanan dress and showed it to Amiti.

As Karis and Sveta giggled, Amiti said, "Very well," which took the three of them aback. Walking into his room, Amiti disrobed and put on the dress, before walking out onto the deck and asking, "So, how do I look?"

Sheba saw him from out of the corner of her eye, and wolf-whistled, yelling, "Looking good, kid!" That shout had gotten the attention of everyone, who stared at Amiti in confusion, with the exception of Karis, Sveta, and Himi. The Mercury Adept braced himself, waiting for the laughing to start.

Instead, Matthew said, "You don't look half-bad with that on, Amiti..." Beside him, Felix nodded in agreement, before going back to telling Rief more about the Tuaparang's city.

Tyrell, handing Eoleo his Pirate's Sabre, laughed a little, before turning to the pirate and saying, "Damn, he's got guts to be wearing that, don't ya think?" Eoleo nodded back, before asking Tyrell to fetch the map of Weyard for him.

Tyrell did so, and Eoleo said, "The present-day one, not the one from thirty years ago!" Running into the captain's quarters, Tyrell got the correct map and ran back up to Eoleo.

Amiti sat back down with the three girls, before turning to Karis and asking, "Truth or dare?"

"...Truth."

"Do you have feelings for Tyrell?"

* * *

Later, once the stars were shining brightly in the sky, Amiti, Himi, and a very flustered Sveta and Karis wrapped up their game just as Eoleo said, "Hey, we're gonna be stopping in Imil for the night, because according to the map, we can't go through the Ei-Jei region. Get your cold-weather clothes!"

Amiti, still in the dress, walked up to Eoleo and asked, "May I look at this map, please?"

"Sure, kid."

Looking at the map, Amiti saw that there was a gap in the ocean which separated the eastern and western halves of Angara down in the Ei-Jei region, and he said, "Imil it is." Something clicked in Amiti's head regarding the Mercury Clan, and he decided that he had a few questions to ask the locals once they did set shore.

Matthew was just about to head down to his quarters to get his coat when something tapped him on the shoulder. Looking back, what he saw made him jump slightly. A small creature, colored purple with black markings, was floating right in front of him. Before Matthew could say anything, however, the Djinn said, _"Shh! It's just you and me for now, kid."_

"What are you?"

_"I'm a Djinn!"_

"But aren't the Djinn only representative of the four Elements?"

_"That's where you're wrong. See, twenty years after the Golden Sun, another rumbling in what remained of Sol Sanctum caused even more Djinn to escape Mount Aleph! That caused eighteen of us Umbra Djinn, along with eighteen Sol Djinn, to spread out all over Weyard... in addition to various other Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter Djinn. See, we were late to the party the first time around... but that's besides the point! My name is Shadow, and I will join your service."_

"But how come I only encountered you now?"

_"We Umbra Djinn only come out at night, the Sol Djinn only come out during the day. So you'd better be best prepared to do some late-night expeditions, or you may miss a few of us! Also, our powers never really... came to light until after the Grave Eclipse and Apollo Lens."_

Flint then exited Matthew's person, asking, _"Hey, what's with all the noise- Shadow?"_

_"Flint! Long time no see, old buddy!"_

Matthew was even more perplexed now, and he asked, "You two know each other?"

_"Yeah! Flint and I go waaaaaay back!"_

_"Hey, remember when Eddy decided to bubblize Aurora?"_

_"Oh yeah, that went badly for him!"_

Matthew's voice interrupted the two Djinn, saying, "Flint, I'm happy to see that you've found your friend, but let me get this straight; there's even more Djinn we have to find?!"

Both Djinn chimed in unison, _"Yep!"_

Matthew buried his face in his hands, muttering, "Jenei above, save me now..."

* * *

Rief was furiously jotting down notes, saying, "Yep, mhm. You're saying that there are time-dependent Djinn?"

"That's correct."

On cue, Shadow appeared from Matthew's person, greeting Rief with a chipper, _"Hello!" _causing Rief to nearly fall out of his chair.

The ten of them, along with Mia, were staying at an inn in Imil, and Matthew, currently bunking with Rief, had just gotten the idea to show him the Djinni he had just encountered. Matthew was now sitting on his bed, watching in mild amusement as Rief pulled himself together and asked the Djinni, "How did you even find us?"

_"Oh, I just saw Flint on someone while I was roaming in the ocean, so I went to check it out! I'm lucky it was at night, though..."_

"As a so-called 'Umbra Djinni,' what do you have domain over?"

_"Darkness-related powers__ and poison. Sol Djinn have the domain of light and healing. We can even do some summons of our own!"_

Matthew and Rief looked at each other excitedly, and Rief wrote that part down before giddily asking, "Why don't you give us a demonstration of your powers?" Next to him, Matthew was frantically signaling that it was a bad idea, but it was too late, as Shadow unleashed a concentrated slash of dark energy, simultaneously extinguishing their candle and breaking their window. Matthew facepalmed, and Rief sheepishly said, "Sorry."

"Whatever. Let's just go find Felix and tell him what just happened."

* * *

"New elements of Djinn, huh?"

Matthew and Rief nodded, with the former calling for Shadow to come out. The Umbra Djinni materialized, and Felix's eyes widened as the Djinni somehow snuffed out his candlelight, causing him to exclaim, "I was writing a letter!"

_"Oh, sorry about that..."_

Felix dismissed it, telling Matthew and Rief to go to bed.

* * *

The next morning, Matthew got up early to continue looking for Djinn. Despite it being morning, the skies in Imil were still somewhat dark, which meant that his visibility was somewhat limited. Trudging through the snow, Matthew tripped over what he assumed was a rock, until angry squeaking noises came from where he tripped. Sifting through the snow, he saw an Umbra Djinni jumping up and down in the snow before headbutting him, sending him into a nearby tree.

Rubbing his head, the Venus Adept lunged at the Djinni, who melted into a nearby shadow before using Dark Cloud, sending a purple cloud imbued with dark energy towards Matthew. Matthew dodged, before using Ivy to petrify the Djinn in place. While it was stuck, Matthew unleashed Centurion, battering the Djinni with a flurry of stabs. Once it could move again, the Umbra Djinni used Toxic Spray, emitting a foul green mist which Matthew blocked by raising a barrier made of rock. Remembering that he still had not reset Chasm from his skirmish with Felix and Sheba in Belinsk, he took a deep breath before summoning Ramses, and the ancient pharaoh punched the Djinni in the face, felling it.

Matthew walked up to the Djinn, who whispered, "_I am Twilight... since you have bested me, I will serve you and your allies..."_ Twilight dissolved into a swirl of black-and-purple particles which went into Matthew, who felt a slight boost in his power.

Before he could relax, he saw Mia and Sveta staring at him in curiosity, the former heading to the village to fulfill one last healing session, the latter having woken up early, and he waved before revealing what he had fought. Twilight materialized, waving a stubby hand, and Mia and Sveta awkwardly waved back. The Djinn vanished with a poof, and while Mia continued her trek down to Imil, Sveta situated herself next to Matthew and handed him his coat, which he had forgotten in his rush to look for Djinn, and Matthew thanked her with a grateful hug.

Sveta flushed a bright shade of red, but she hung on tight, taking in his scent once more. Once they broke apart, Matthew asked, "Aren't your feet cold?" Giggling, Sveta shook her head before playfully throwing a snowball at Matthew's face. Once he had gotten over the initial shock, he devilishly grinned before throwing one back, and the two spent the rest of the morning having an impromptu snowball fight.

* * *

Tyrell yawned, throwing himself off the bed and landing on the floor with a hard thud. As he stood up, massaging his back, he saw something bright staring back at him. Leaping back in surprise, Tyrell asked, "What the heck are you?!"

The bright ball of light died down, revealing a small white-and-gold creature that said in a squeaky voice, _"I'm a Djinni! A Sol Djinni, to be specific."_

"Sol Djinni? I thought that there were only four elements..."

_"Well, we only escaped Mount Aleph ten years prior, and even then, we Sol and Umbra Djinn didn't really gain our powers until the Grave Eclipse three months ago and then the firing of the Apollo Lens about four or five days ago. I'm Halo, and since you seem like a nice guy, I'll be joining you... ooh! Is that Fury? Aurora too? Long time no see, guys!"_

The two Mars Djinn materialized, and Fury cheerfully said, _"Halo! Where are the others?"_

_"I... don't know."_

_"Aw man, really?"_

Matthew, his hair covered in snow, walked in, asking, "Hey, Tyrell, Amiti, when are the two of you going to-" He stopped upon seeing the three Djinn in the room, and from his person, Twilight, Shadow, and Flint assumed their physical forms.

Shadow looked at Halo for a good three seconds before exclaiming, _"Long time no see!"_

* * *

Later, at the pier, Felix had sent his little robotic raven out with his letter, and he saw Mia walking back from the Imilian village. With a smile on his face, Felix asked, "Ready to save the world again?"

Her Nebula Wand by her side, Mia nodded, replying, "It will be nice to see the others again... we've all missed you and Sheba dearly, Felix."

* * *

After twenty minutes, Gail managed to successfully disarm Isaac, his Gaia Blade flying into the grass, and Isaac put his hand on his niece's shoulder before saying, "Good job today. We'll be practicing Psynergy techniques tomorrow."

She nodded, asking, "Uncle Isaac... when will Mom and Dad be back?"

His expression hardening, Isaac answered, "I don't know," before heading back inside. Gail, picking up the Gaia Blade, followed suit.

Inside, Jenna presented them with small bowls of ice cream, saying, "We're saving the rest for when Mia gets here."

* * *

_"You two should be grateful that you got off as lightly as you did."_

The High Empyror, in a massive suit of armor that was modeled after the Dullahan of legends past, boomed, _"Arcanus, Stavos, and Pentis have all gone rogue, so the only reason the both of you aren't dead is because you two are the only military commanders I have left." _Blados and Chalis audibly swallowed, as due to Arcanus' report, the Empyror had made them pay for their part in the Grave Eclipse by taking an arm from each of them and replacing it with a metallic one. Leaning forward on his throne, his face obscured by his helmet, the Empyror rumbled, _"Do not double cross the Tuaparang ever again, or next time, you will pay with your heads. Is that understood?" _The two Dark Adepts nodded, and the High Empyror said, _"Kalay is your next target. Do not disappoint me."_ With a wave, Blados and Chalis were dismissed from his throne room.

* * *

Alex, in one of the forests of Imil, a place he thought he would never come back to, looked at Felix, Sheba, and Mia get on the Champan pirate's ship in the distance. With a dismissive sneer, his display of disgust faded shortly after upon seeing the Ayuthian king walk onto the ship, a crestfallen look present on his face. It hadn't been until his encounter with the Adepts at the Apollo Lens that he had connected the dots regarding the mysterious connection he felt with that Mercury Adept in particular.

_"Now is not the time for sentiment, Alex," _he mentally chided, as he came across a puddle of water. Looking at his reflection, he decided that there was no point in concealing his face, and he let the mask drop in the snow around him, revealing the scar he had gotten from a stray rock when the Wise One had tried to seal him underneath Mount Aleph thirty years ago, a stark reminder of his failure to achieve godhood. His resolve heightened, Alex silently vowed that he would achieve the divinity that the floating rock had denied him all those years ago. All he needed was to make a short trip to Prox with Isaac...

* * *

Mia walked up to Amiti, who was staring at the various cliffsides that decorated the coast of northern Angara, and she asked, "What's with the long face?"

Amiti looked at her, and answered, "I thought I could've gotten some answers regarding my ancestry here in Imil."

"Ancestry?"

"For the longest time, I thought I couldn't have been descended from your clan because Imil's borders were closed off when I was born. Over time, however, I learned that some of your healers did indeed travel out of the town. Rief told me on our journey that there was a possibility that I was related to the Mercury Clan, but from what I've heard of your clan, none of them would be so cowardly as to run off and leave a woman with an unborn child, could they?"

The cogs began turning in Mia's head, before she asked, "May I take a closer look at your face, please?"

Though he was puzzled, Amiti did as she requested. Mia looked long and hard, and saw that his face was indeed the spitting image of Alex. Shaking her head, she lied, "I'm sorry, I thought you looked like someone I knew..."

Mia walked away, leaving Amiti with more questions than answers. Looking back, he saw Sheba talking with the two Umbra Djinn Matthew had found in Imil, and he bitterly thought to himself, _"At least they found something..."_

* * *

**Boom, another chapter done! The Sol and Umbra Djinn thing was an idea I had burning in the back of my head for quite some time, so here it is! Sol and Umbra Djinn are unique in the fact that they don't provide entirely new classes, but instead slap on light/dark traits upon the existing ones. Crystallux has been reworked into requiring three Sol Djinn instead of Venus Djinn. As for the brand new summons I mentioned, here they are:**

**\- Hyperion (4 Sol Djinn, 2 Mars Djinn)**

**\- Nyx (4 Umbra Djinn)**

**\- Hecate (1 of each Djinn type)**

**\- Koios (5 Umbra Djinn, 3 Mercury Djinn)**

**\- Loki (2 Umbra Djinn)**

**\- Eos (3 Sol Djinn, 2 Umbra Djinn)**

**...and there's still more that I haven't listed. As for the Djinn themselves, there's:**

**Sol:**

**\- Halo**

**\- Watt**

**\- Bulb**

**\- Lantern**

**\- Glimmer**

**\- Lux**

**\- Circuit**

**\- Lumine**

**\- Phosphora**

**\- Gleam**

**\- Dazzle**

**\- Fulgor**

**\- Scintilla**

**\- Shimmer**

**\- Gamma**

**\- Flo**

**\- Dawn**

**\- Lumi**

**Umbra:**

**\- Shadow**

**\- Twilight**

**\- Dusk**

**\- Abyss**

**\- Mirage**

**\- Crypt**

**\- Grim**

**\- Pitch**

**\- Snuff**

**\- Atropine**

**\- Wraith**

**\- Abrin**

**\- Nightmare**

**\- Solan**

**\- Rift**

**\- Miasma**

**\- Vamp**

**\- Lurk**

**Some of these names were a stretch...**


	7. Shipping and Handling

**There's a reason why the Warriors of Vale that know Amiti's parentage are keeping it quiet.**

**I also decided to make Piers' hair short based off a recent drawing from Sora G. Silverwind's Twitter.**

* * *

Himi finished a sketch for Rief and showed him the drawing. Looking at what she had drawn, Rief flashed a thumbs-up in approval before hastily exiting her quarters, though not before bumping into Sheba. The Jupiter Adept looked at the paper Rief was holding, and she said, "Well, if you were trying to get an artist's depiction of a Tuaparang airship, I'd say that's pretty accurate." Before she could continue, however, she looked at Rief and asked, "Can I see your mother?"

Rief nodded, pointing to where Mia was staying on the ship. Sheba nodded, thanking Rief by handing him a bag of sweets she had smuggled out of the Tuaparang city before she and Felix were sent to plant the Mourning Moon, and knocked on Mia's door, asking, "Hey, it's Sheba, can I come in?"

Mia opened the door, and politely gestured for Sheba to take a seat. After a small silence, Sheba began with, "So, you figured it out too, huh?"

"Yeah, though I won't tell Amiti because the knowledge of who his father is will quite possibly create a rift on the team." Sheba nodded, and Mia continued, "What has Alex been doing these last thirty years?"

Sheba shrugged and responded, "Eh, it was the typical chessmaster crap he pulled on us when we unleashed the Golden Sun, except he had someone to answer to."

Before Mia could answer, the ship rocked before coming to a dead stop. The two Adepts went out to the top deck, and there, they saw Eoleo trying to cut his way through some ice floes on the bow of the ship, being lowered to sea level by Matthew and Tyrell holding a rope. Unfortunately, the two of them lost their grip on the rope, and Eoleo landed in the ocean. Being an experienced pirate who had his own fair share of unexpected swims, Eoleo had no trouble staying afloat, and his innate Mars abilities had mostly kept his body warm, but the feeling of suddenly falling into surprisingly cold water was a nasty shock for him. Matthew and Tyrell began panicking, and they ran over to a confused Amiti, giving him an incredibly quick summary of what had just happened.

The Mercury Adept, who just then had been silently brooding over the topic of who his father was, ran up to the bow of the ship and looked down to see Eoleo trying to swim to an ice floe he hadn't hacked apart. Taking command, he grabbed a nearby rope and flung it towards Eoleo, who felt the rope land on his shoulder. Grabbing it, he gave a light tug, which registered with Amiti, who asked Matthew and Tyrell help him in holding the rope. With some effort, they managed to bring Eoleo back onto the ship. Cutting through the rope that was around his waist, Eoleo thanked the three of them, but turned to Matthew to ask, "Don't you have that Grip Psynergy?"

"The Grip Crystal's with Himi... sorry I didn't think about it sooner. Speaking of Himi..."

Matthew went belowdecks, and Eoleo told Tyrell to help Karis with fending off a Skorpna that had appeared on the ship while they were busy. Once Tyrell had gone off to do that, he turned to Amiti and asked, "Hey kid, just now I saw you moping on the deck. Would you like to tell me what that's all about?"

"Remember what I told you at the pier in Belinsk?" Eoleo nodded, and Amiti said, "That's what I've been wondering about."

Eoleo nodded in understanding, and he whispered, "Good luck, Amiti," before calling for Felix in regards to cooking tips.

* * *

Karis, looking out on the side of the ship, saw a distinct red glow in the distance, and behind her, Sheba remarked, "The Mars Lighthouse is still going strong after all these years, huh?" Looking at the person next to her, she asked, "You're Ivan's girl, aren't you?" Karis nodded, and Sheba said, "He and I were roughly three years younger than you when we unleashed Alchemy on the world. He was smart for a fourteen year-old. _Really_ smart. He also had a knack for trying to invent things in the years that passed after the Golden Sun."

Karis' eyes lit up with excitement, and she asked, "What else did he make other than the soarwing?"

"The keyword in that sentence was 'trying.'" Karis deflated in disappointment, and Sheba, abruptly changing the topic, muttered, "You know, you should really tell that Tyrell kid how you feel about him. I'm fairly sure that he likes you."

Karis flushed and replied, "I don't see why you're so into our romantic pursuits..."

Sheba threw her head up and laughed, saying, "Oh, I was like this even during the quest to light the Elemental Lighthouses. Tell 'em, Felix!"

Felix had just walked away from Eoleo, having given him some simple, readily available recipes for future use, and, looking at his wife with curiosity, he asked, "Yes?"

"Come on, tell her about Madra!"

Felix smiled in an exasperated fashion before saying, "Oh, alright..." Turning to Karis, he began, "So, like Sheba said, this whole thing started in Madra..."

* * *

_Having caught note of the Proxian girl who was looking for Isaac (Karst, from what Felix had recalled), Sheba quietly slipped past her, joining Piers, Kraden, Felix, and Jenna at the outside of the Madra inn. Felix, in a hushed voice, began, "So, after asking the locals, I can confirm that Isaac and his friends are indeed looking for us."_

_Jenna gasped in shock, asking, "What'll we do if they ever find us? Would they even listen to us with what you've shown them, Felix?"_

_"Shown what?"_

_"You know, that whole facade you've been putting up since the Sol Sanctum almost six months ago!"_

_Piers, who had been silently thinking about their current predicament, asked, "Who is this 'Isaac?'"_

_Jenna, a slight blush coloring her cheeks, responded with, "A good friend of mine."_

_Curious, Sheba asked, "__But Jenna, aren't you and Isaac an item? Couldn't you, you know... do something?"_

_Jenna's entire body glowed like a Mars Djinn in embarrassment, and she stammered, "A-an item? No! I mean... It's not like that! Not... really..." The color dying down, she muttered, "Stupid Sheba..."_

_Felix and Kraden found the whole exchange to be incredibly amusing, as the two of them were aware that Jenna had harbored romantic feelings for Isaac for almost seven years. Looking to their right, they saw that Sheba had a mischievous smirk on her face, indicating that she wasn't going to let Jenna live it down..._

* * *

"...and she never did live it down. Funnily enough, Isaac told me that Ivan did the same thing to him when they were journeying through Weyard." Shaking his head in an amused fashion, he pondered, "What is it with you Jupiter Adepts and your nosiness regarding romance?" Sheba shrugged, and Karis said nothing, instead opting to admire the view that the faint outline of the Mars Lighthouse's beacon presented.

Belowdecks, Matthew knocked on Himi's door and asked, "May I come in?"

"Yes you may, Matthew."

Matthew opened the door, and sat down on the mat that Himi had laid on her floor. Finding it extremely comfortable, he remarked, "You really can't find stuff like this in Kalay..."

"Yamatan silk is one of the softest materials in all of Weyard." With an amused glance, she continued, "Though I assume that is not why you're here?" Matthew shook his head, and she continued, "So tell me, Matthew. What troubles you?"

Nervously grabbing at his shoulder, Matthew began, "So... remember when we first met you in Yamata?" Himi nodded, Matthew continued, "You said something about my father being in danger?"

"I had seen something with the power of the Third Eye. It is both a blessing and a curse, though for you, what I saw is most definitely the latter. See, I saw Isaac being cast into a snowy well at the edge of Weyard."

A troubled expression had come over Matthew's grayish eyes, and he thought long and hard over what that possibly could have meant, his mind narrowing it down to something in either Tundaria or Prox. Silently thanking Himi for her time, he exited her quarters and entered his own, which he shared with Tyrell, where upon sitting on his bed, he began thinking of what Himi's vision was supposed to be foreshadowing.

* * *

The Imilian sea was tricky to navigate, and unforgiving if even the slightest mistake was made. That was not the case for Blados and Chalis, who flew above the Champan pirate ship in a Tuaparang airship. There, Blados was barking orders at the Tua soldiers on deck, capping it off with, "And if you mess up, you pay with your lives! Got it?" The normally unfazeable Tua soldiers nodded in a panicked fashion before running to their deployment pods, and Chalis steered their airship to be directly above Eoleo's ship before releasing them, followed by Blados jumping down from the flying craft and onto one of the pods.

On deck, Tyrell saw something coming towards them from up above, and he quickly pulled out the Herculean Axe once several pods dropped onto the deck. Matthew, Himi, Rief, and Sveta ran up on deck, where they saw Blados, now equipped with a metallic right arm, holding the same sword he had used throughout Matthew's quest, already engaged in combat with a furious Tyrell, whose anger was making his strikes sloppy.

Looking at the collection of Tuaparang soldiers on deck, everyone else pulled out their weapons, ready to fight off the Tua soldiers. Felix, wielding the Excalibur, unleashed Legend, and three bolts of purple energy rained onto some of the Tua soldiers, sending them flying into the frigid waters.

* * *

Piers, with the Mythril Blade clipped to his belt, was on his way to Imil for one of his tri-monthly visits. In the distance, however, he saw a commotion happening on what appeared to be a Champan pirate ship. Taking a closer look, he saw that it was actually a squad of Tuaparang soldiers attacking a group of teenagers and…

"Felix? Sheba? No way…"

Pulling out his telescope, Piers took another gander to confirm his suspicions. Indeed, it was Felix, wielding the Excalibur he had used back in the day, along with Sheba, who had just fried a Tua soldier with Spark Plasma.

A fiery resolve began burning within the Lemurian admiral, and he changed course to head straight for the pirate ship, determined to help his friends.

* * *

Tyrell, meanwhile, had overextended on a hit, causing him to be disarmed by Blados, who kicked his axe across the deck and lunged for the Mars Adept, managing to grab him by his shirt collar. In a low, threatening growl, Blados said, "You're not going ANYWHERE until we kill those two traitors on board!"

"Oh, calm down, Blados."

Chalis had jumped onto the ship as well, and Felix, rolling his eyes, snarked, "Well, well, well, if it isn't the perfume floozy."

That got a few giggles out of Mia and Sheba, and Chalis instead turned towards them, casting Dark Puff, and a small cloud of Dark Psynergy made its way towards the two of them.

Mia pointed her Nebula Wand at Chalis and fired a Glacier at the Dark Adept, while Sheba unleashed Shine Plasma. Chalis destroyed the ice wall with one firecracker before barely dodging the other, and began running up to the two of them, pulling out a Corsair's Edge, which Sheba parried with her Lachesis' Rule before giving Chalis a hard kick in the ribs, sending her backwards. Sheba took a closer look, and saw that Chalis' left arm had been replaced with a metallic prosthetic, and with a gleam in her eye, she used Spark Plasma, aiming for Chalis' right arm.

Rief and Himi were close to Eoleo, doing their best to prevent the Tua soldiers from reaching him. Himi struck one down with Emerald Blitz, while Rief used Deluge, sending several soldiers overboard with a large wave of water.

Blados gave Tyrell a hard punch with his metallic arm before roughly casting him aside upon seeing Felix, and he snarled, "_You_."

Felix, seemingly unperturbed, flatly replied, "Yes, me."

"You have no reason to be alive right now!" Blados took another step towards Felix, who snapped his fingers, which, unknown to Blados, was casting Cure on Tyrell.

Meanwhile, Matthew and Sveta, the latter having transformed into her Beastform, were fighting off a squad of Tua soldiers, and Matthew caught an arrow to his shoulder before being hit aside by a juggernaut of Tua scout with a rough kick to his midsection. Seeing that, Sveta roared before pouncing on the soldier and brutally mauling him, causing every other soldier in their vicinity to stop and stare in horror. As Sveta cast the soldier aside, Matthew got a good look at her as she turned around to check on him, and a host of indecent images began flying through his head before settling on one overpowering thought: _"I am so in love with her."_

Blados sneered, "So, 'Stavos,' how long were you planning to do this?"

"Fifteen years, give or take. You're one to criticize others about loyalty, given what happened at the Apollo Sanctum…"

His eyes narrowing in fury, Blados reached his breaking point and charged Felix, throwing a spark shuriken for good measure. The shuriken actually managed to hit Felix, managing to immobilize him, and Felix could only watch as Blados ran at him with killing intent. However, a blast of Eruption knocked Blados off of his feet, and Tyrell, having found his axe, lifted it up, preparing to unleash Olympus Rage.

Tyrell brought the axe down, and Blados barely managed to roll away from the eruption of lava that spewed from the unleash.

Chalis was reduced to one working arm after Sheba had fried her prosthetic, only for a blast of Diamond Berg to freeze her solid, followed by a slash sending her flying. As Chalis looked up, she blanched upon getting a good look at her attacker.

Piers, the famous Lemurian sailor, was assisting Eoleo with manning the ship, freezing some Tua soldiers solid with a wall of ice before kicking them down the stairs that led to the wheel of the ship. Realizing that she was out of options, she looked at Blados, his eyes also meeting hers, and she signaled that they needed to retreat at the rate that the battle was going. Blados reluctantly nodded, and the two of them threw smoke bombs in front of them, obscuring them from the others' line of sight, which allowed them to go to the nearest shadow to make an escape with Shadow Retreat. The remaining soldiers stared at the twelve Adepts facing them, each of them, especially the short Mars Adept, having killing intent in their eyes. Deciding that surrender was better than a painful death at the hands of the Warriors of Vale and their (supposed) successors or even facing their commanders, they jumped overboard, swimming to the nearest ice floe.

Looking at the soldiers swim, Sheba rolled her eyes and snarked, "Idiots, the lot of them were." Turning to Piers, she gave him a hug, exclaiming, "And where did you come from?! Nice haircut, by the way."

Piers chuckled while ruffling his now-short hair, replying, "Was on my way to Imil to drop off Nowell." Looking at his ship, which was very close by, he turned to Mia before asking, "Would you like her to be back in Imil or would you allow her to stay with us?"

"Us?"

"I'm going to come along with you guys, because," Piers gestured to the other eight Adepts on the ship besides them, "It seems like something big's going down, judging by how the three of you are with the Children of the Eclipse."

Matthew, still clutching at his ribs, wheezed, "_What?_"

"Made a quick stop at Yamata to drop off Takeru once the Grave Eclipse had cleared up, and caught wind of some travelers who recently saved the world, with them being dubbed the 'Children of the Eclipse.' News travels fast in Angara, apparently." Turning back to Mia, Piers asked again, "Would you like for Nowell to stay in Imil or come along?"

Mia thought long and hard, before settling on, "Imil. The Mercury Clan will watch over her."

Piers nodded, saying, "Consider it done," before jumping overboard and onto a series of ice floes to reach his ship. After yelling back, "I'll see you in a few!" the Wings of Anemos jutted out from his ship, and Piers took flight, heading for Imil.

Matthew and the others watched in fascination as Piers' ship flew northeast towards Imil, and Rief suggested, "Since it's only going to be a short while, how about we just wait until Piers comes back?"

That got nods out of everyone else, and Tyrell pulled out a deck of cards, asking the others, "Who wants to play?" Naturally, Matthew immediately sat next to him, with Rief and Sheba coming over shortly after. Sveta and Karis walked over to the railing, while Mia went with Felix to discuss navigation with Eoleo, leaving Amiti alone among the others, as Himi had gone back to her cabin to meditate.

With a hollow, half-defeated sigh, Amiti pulled out the Masamune and was about to practice his technique, when a glowing light shone in front of him, temporarily blinding him. As he clasped his left hand over his eyes, a squeaky voice said, _"Sorry, am I a little too bright for ya?"_ Amiti, though confused, nodded, and the light dimmed before the voice continued, _"You can look now."_

Amiti found himself looking at a golden Djinn, who said, _"I'm Bulb! Nice to meet you!"_

* * *

Alex found himself at the aerie of the Mars Lighthouse, staring deep into the well that he knew the Mars Star had been cast in, intending to test something before carrying out his plan. The red sphere of energy that was still burning brightly even after thirty years gave radiated a warm aura, but for the Mercury Adept, the manifestation of Mars energy was a harsh reminder that he was still not an all-powerful, omniscient god. Clenching his fists in anger, he reached into the well, only for him to retreat with a hiss of pain, his left hand shaking, smoking, and shining with blisters from a sudden burst of energy that had washed over his hand.

Thinking to himself, Alex mused, _"The Wise One said that some of the residual power of the Golden Sun's rested within the carrier of the Mars Star..." _He knew who bore the power of the Mars Star, but he didn't know how to get Isaac's... power...

_"Of course." _His gaze hardening, he concluded, _"I now know what I must do."_

* * *

Isaac saw a black raven waiting on his windowsill with a letter tied onto one of its talons, the peculiar bird pecking at the windowsill. Walking over, he saw that the bird seemed to be... beckoning him to come closer? Confused, Isaac opened the window and took the letter from the bird, which much to his surprise, pecked at him for a little while before flying out the window.

* * *

Felix snickered lightly, having commanded the bird to peck at Isaac for a quick laugh.

* * *

Rubbing his head in annoyance, Isaac unfurled the letter, his eyes widening when he saw who it came from. Running to his desk, he obsessively pored over the letter, which read:

_Isaac,_

_We're currently at Imil right now, planning on leaving tomorrow morning. By the time you receive this letter, we'll be sailing across the Imilian Sea to reach Kalay. Hopefully we'll run into Piers along the way... when was the last time all eight of us were together, huh? Time sure flies..._

_Anyways, Mia's coming along with us, and there is something... important I'd like to tell you. Mia's kid (Rief, I think it was) approached me about a new type of Djinn. It appeared to have darkness-based powers, based on how it snuffed out my candle. Matthew said it was an Umbra Djinni. I unfortunately don't have a sketch, given that I can't draw at all, but you'll just need to take my word for it._

_I also remembered something regarding Alex. You must stay guarded, Isaac. I know for a fact that he'll be coming for that last bit of power the Wise One stored within you. _What_ he'll do with you, I don't know, but I can only assume nothing good, given how obsessed he was over it when he and I worked together on some missions eight years ago._

_Anyways, I hope to see you in Kalay sooner rather than later._

_Sincerely,_

_Felix_

Isaac rolled up the letter, and he passed it to Jenna as he walked downstairs, whispering, "It's from Felix."

Jenna nodded, and Isaac watched as Gail practiced slicing apart more... durable training dummies with Felix's old Darksword.

* * *

Fingering the Cleric's Ring that was on her left hand, Sveta perked up when she heard a knock at her room door. Opening the door, her breath hitched when she saw who it was.

Matthew, dripping wet from a fight with a sea monster, shyly asked, "Is it okay if I come in?"

* * *

**I am so, so sorry for this story basically going incognito for two months.**


End file.
